What Does Your Stomach Tell You?
by Shiruji-chan
Summary: After falling overboard Luffy and Zoro are stranded on a winter island. With little food and no shelter how long will they survive? Will Merry find them in time? ZoLu,LuffyZoro,ZoroLuffy.!COMPLETED!
1. Chapter 1

**_OKAY! I'm back in busines. meh, I know I said this would be a one shot. But it will get too long for that. So I'm gonna put up more chappies for ya. As for Forget Me Not; You'll have to wait for that one. Sorry. I just have this urge to write this up before I do anything with it._**

**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

**_By_**

**_Shiruji-chan_**

**_Chapter 1_**

**Winter Storm**

It was raining again outside... or rather, snowing.

Nami had said they would arrive at a winter island in a few hours.

But they really couldn't see _anything_ in this thick storming blister.

The snow was falling, or rather, floating vertically past the iced windows of the Going Merry,

and the thick frosty fog made them unable to do anything but to repair the damages, and wait.

And as if all of this wasn't enough, the sea was crashing into the hull of the ship as if it had declared war against them.

'just like boiling water in a casserole' Sanji had said.

Everyone of the crew was inside now, waiting for the storm to calm down. Drinking Sanji's hot chocolate which he had 'put all his love into' for the loveliest Nami-San and Robin-Chan.

Everyone but one was there, the captain.

Who was now, outside. Dancing like a hyper rubber ball of red and blue in the whiteness, that was now piling up on the deck, like neat little mini-mountains.

Luffy loved the snow, he just couldn't help it. That was why he was outside in this weather.

He really didn't care for weather anyway, when it was raining it was raining, when is was sunny it _was_ sunny.

That was just how it was. They hadn't been to many winter islands on their journey though.

In fact, the only winter island they had been to was Drum-island.

So every time he saw snow, or something reminding him of snow. He would dance around like a little 5-year old kid on Christmas eve, grinning and laughing out his hearts contents.

Every now and then a massive wave would crash it's way into the iced deck and Luffy would jump up high,skip and land in one of those piles of snow with a muffled thud. He would then pop his head up,

and look like a silly little snowman wannabe with a mass of snow paked in both hair and clothing. White crystals of snow entangled in a maze of black hair. Snow was just the bestest invention ever!

"If you try staring any harder Moss-head, your eyes will start popping out" The love-cook smirked.

Zoro who had been staring rather unknowingly at the hyper captain, quickly snapped his head towards the blonde,looking rather abashed and growling slightly.

"As if_ you_ can talk Princess" He hissed rather irritably. First that damn blister had to ruin his sleep.

Then that damn witch of a navigator_ had_ to press him into guarding her damn tangerines from the snow (or she would crave even more money.) ,and as if his day couldn't get any worse,

that damn cheese-head just _had_ to start picking on his nerves.

"Yes. I only stare at Nami-San and Robin-Chan because of their shining beauty. Unlike you, You're a simple pervert."

Yep, Zoro would probably try and strangle the chef in his sleep. If he didn't slice him up before that, that is.

"did he get his jacket though?" The ginger-haired navigator asked, looking up from her maps, glasses resting on her nose.

""It doesn't look like it Navigator-San" Nico Robin said, staring mysteriously throughout the windows

as if she had found something interesting in all the whiteness.

"Okay! Zoro! Get that jacket of mine. That one with the ripped off arm, he used it last time. He doesn't have anything else. And make sure to tell him to stay away from the waves. He's going to slip into the ocean if he's not careful." Nami muttered and found her way into the maps again.

"If not, you're gonna owe a 100 more belies."

Just his luck. Damn woman.

The swordsman put his hands on the table and pushed him self to his feet, muttering some unimportant curses under his breath.

Zoro was not one for slaving. And that was exactly what this onibaba was doing right now. He wasn't like that idiot love-cook who was too blind to even notice how she easily twirled him around her finger, but yeah, he wouldn't like it if the rubber teen suddenly got swiped off the ship and drowned. Not that he cared though, he just didn't want that damn liar to proclaim the position as captain, which he probably would. ...and life really wouldn't be the same without the rubber man.

Reaching out to get his own jacket that he had 'recieved' when they were in Drum-island, he grabbed the checkered jacket with the ripped off arm. Zoro wondered if it would really help. Luffy would be better off wearing nothing really. Okay, maybe not. But he did have a doubt that the jacket would help.

He snorted and put the jacket under his arm, opening the door and stepping out. He narrowed his eyes slightly

'Good thing Nami said that there won't be any icebergs. You can't see a damn thing' She was good with weather, he had to agree with that... unfortunately.

Nami had said that if it was snowing, the temperature would probably be around 0 - +1C, and that would be too warm for icebergs to settle in these parts.

Walking down to the lower deck, Zoro glanced around a little. He wasn't surprised to find no Luffy, but even though..

"Now, where the hell did he go..." he murmured to him self. _Yeah that little monkey would probably..._

"ZOOOROOOOO!"

"Eh! Luffy where are-"

The swordsman got no more time pondering over the question before a lightning of red and blue fired it self from the upper railing like a missile and crashed into it's poor victim, Roronoa Zoro.

Both bodies rolled across the piles of snow and crashed into the rails with a loud frightening crack. Which would remind one awfully of a person who just broke every single bone in his poor body.

There was a loud cheerful laugher from the captain. Strawhat slightly askew and face plastered with a bright smile.

"don't.Do.That.Again" came the muffled comment from the green-haired man.

Luffy tilted his head, looking down at the swordsman who was currently sprawled on the deck. Face buried in wet snow.

"But it's fun Zorooo!" The younger teen pouted

Growling, the said Zoro got up to his feet and brushed snow off his black pants. "Yeah but Luffyyyy-" he mocked with a sarcastic undertone. "- You know that you could rocket your self out of the ship and into the water right? And you know this is probably

going to happen. I'm not jumping in there to get you. Okay? "

"Yes you are. Because you always do that. Besides, if you don't then Sanji or Usopp will."

He grinned again. Zoro grit his teeth. Okay, he was defeated.

"Okay Captain, Nami Says to be careful so you don't slip. Okay? Do you want to listen to her or face the consequences?"

Luffy huffed alittle at that. Yeah, Nami could be really scary at times. ..not 'really scary' but VERY scary. And that said alot.

"Good." The Swordsman said and corssed his arms. Looking down at them he realised he had droped Luffy's jacket in the fall._ just great. ...Now where did it land?_

"HEY HEY! Zoro LOOK!" The raven-haired teen cheered from atop of the crows nest._ wait...crows nest?_

"LUFFY! get down here now!"

Too late, with a loud crack the ship countered as a hug wave burst into the deck. With a helpless little squeal the pirate captain lost his footing and went soaring down into mother sea with a rapid speed.

It was as if all of it happened in slow motion, but it still happened so quick. And then there was a splash, it was hard to hear because of the storm, but it was a splash. And Zoro felt his heart drop a few centimeters, no, a few meters. _no way...!_

"LUFFY!"

Meh, sorry for this awfull cliffhanger folx. -poutes- well Reviews make me happy so please review, ne?

Or I'll send the pink Yoghurt-monsters on ya!


	2. Ice Water

**OKAY! I'm back. This chapter was done in a hurry because Clarobell told me to get this done by some certain time or she would torture me... so um. yeah.**

**Thanks to Clarobell for beta-ing this chapter! You are great!**

**IMORTAINT NOTE:**

**I have had a good chat with Clare about this fic and it seemed as if she like it because she decided to kidnap my fic XD**

**So, the last few chapters that are coming and HER writing and not mine. And my ideas. **

**This fic might turn into a role play aswell, I think it will. We'll have to see.**

**Anyway, On with the reading:**

* * *

**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

_**by**_

**_Shiruji-chan_**

_**Chapter 2 - Ice Water** _

Zoro watched as the rubber boy got dragged into the murky green-blue water.

The only thing he did was to stand there, watching as if he had gotten one of his weights in his head. And his weights are pretty heavy, mind you.

Five seconds, ten, fifteen... "LUFFY!"

Jacket forgotten for the sake of his captain's life. He cursed inwardly before jumping into the storming pool of waves and freezing water.

As he hit the surface he could feel that sudden enormous pain run through his muscular built body. Muscles didn't help very much now, it was just so freaking cold that it felt as if he had been trapped into the freezer for two days straight.

Leaving the thought behind, he quickly started diving for his hammer captain. God knew how far _he_ could have sunk by now. How could he have been so slow to react?

He could see nothing but the black veil of water stretching further and further down, as far as he could possibly see. He tried to dive further down, every stoke he took got harder and harder to co-ordinate. He was quite sure all the murky water didn't help very much either, and it seriously started to sting intensely in his eyes.

_'damn damn damn' _

He could feel the freezing water tear at his body like thousands of needles jabbing into his whole body. Heart, hands, feet, lungs; lungs, especially lungs. He desperately needed air now but hell be damned, Luffy was more important now. How long had he been under water anyway?

Bubbles emerged the swordsman's mouth followed by a choking sound, but still he continued diving until it felt like his lungs would shatter from both cold and pressure. Reaching his hands out he tried desperately to get a hold of something which would remind him of his captain_. 'Can't find a damn thing'._ A string of new bubbles rose from his lips again.

As his left hand strayed in his efforts to dive deeper it hit a fabric, something reminding him of cloth he quickly clenched his hand in it. Pulling it to his chest he could feel that familiar texture of a straw hat brushing his chin. _'Luffy!'_

He put all his strength into getting back to the surface, feet kicking, arms waving. He didn't know if he would make it with his waning vision and burning lungs, but he hoped Luffy would. And Luffy would, because it seemed like Luffy always got out of problems like these.

It seemed like it took a century to reach the surface, maybe this is how it feels to travel to the moon? And where the hell had _that _thought come from? Must be the lack of oxygen. It didn't look like he was near of reaching it anyway. And the blackness of it all was annoying the hell out of him, because he could see the faint light from the surface and it didn't get any closer.

A few bubbles escaped his mouth again and his body felt numb from the intense cold. He knew that if he didn't reach it now, Luffy wouldn't make it. Zoro was supposed to protect Luffy. He was the First mate after all. The responsibility lay on his shoulders now.

He closed his eyes as they too started to burn and pushed forward with all his strength for the faint light, letting it in through his eyelids.

* * *

**Sooo, did ya like it? Yeah, I know it's a bit short. But I'm more comfortable with short fics.  
So, as I said; the next chapter will be Clarobell's writing. okay. Got it? ' . okie, thanks!**

**Review! Or I'll send the mighty exremental green Elephants in ya!**


	3. Of Snow and Fish

**OKAY Peoples! I present to you; Clarbell's chapters of What Does Your Stomach Tell You. Please be kind and give her some really good "squee" s and good reviews. Ne? **

**Disclaimer: I should seriously start using these... oh well. One Piece does not belong to me. One Piece belongs to Oda-Sensei.**

* * *

**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

_**by**_

_**Shiruji-chan & Clarobell**_

_**Chapter 3 – Of snow and fish**_

Zoro curled in on himself as he tried to save what little heat was left in him. There wasn't even a damn cave to shelter in and the snow was starting to get deep. He felt his eyelids drooping and shook it off sparing a glance to his left where his unconscious captain lay. Luffy wasn't in good shape.

With a tired groan he moved to sit beside the boy, pulling him into his arms so that he was in a sitting position, with the boy's back pressed firmly against his own chest in a futile attempt to keep him warm. Another harsh shiver ran through his body and his teeth started to chatter as the sun sank lower and lower. Soon it would be night and they would be stuck with no shelter from the cold of the snow. The small fire the swordsman had managed to start was also dying.

Another glance down at his captain caused Zoro to whisper a few choice curses under his breath. The boy's breathing was shallow and he was practically blue. He tightened his arms around his torso, offering whatever warmth he could. Though he was sure their soaked clothes were not helping, they were the only thing separating them from the icy winds of the winter island.

When Zoro had finally emerged, gasping from the murky waters, Merry was nowhere in sight, he had frantically swam as his captain lay weak and unconscious in his arms. After around an hour he finally spotted an island in the distance and using the last of his strength had dragged he and Luffy onto its shores. By then they were both freezing and Zoro could no longer feel his body. He almost wished he hadn't thrown that coat down before diving in after the boy.

After around half an hour it started to snow and Zoro groaned knowing he would have to get up and look for shelter, and wouldn't you believe it, there was _none_. He didn't even have his swords with him, having discarded them as usual when he dived in after his clumsy captain. They were alone and vulnerable on an uninhabited winter island, with no food and no shelter.

Slowly he had made his way back to the beach, his numb body protesting all the way. Luffy was where he had left him the prolonged exposure to the seawater weakening his body drastically. He piled the sticks he had collected on the way back and swiped two together sighing as finally they sparked to life in a fire. Pulling the boy close by all he could do was wait.

And so there they were, Luffy in Zoro's arms as the boy shivered against his first mate and his teeth chattered.

"C-C'mon captain" Zoro stuttered through his own chattering teeth "Y-You're tougher than th-this … h-hold on"

The first thing that registered in Luffy's head was the familiar arms around his waist. He couldn't mistake these arms for anybody else's; they'd pulled him from the water more times than he could remember.

"Zoro…?" he whispered uncertainly

The arms jerked a little, obviously surprised he was awake. The boy struggled for a few seconds before finally they released him. When Luffy turned back to the swordsman he wasn't too surprised to find him shirtless; Zoro always trained shirtless after all. Taking a quick look around, he took in the scenery and looked back at Zoro. He looked so cold – why didn't he pout his shirt back on? He sat up fully and was about to ask when he felt a foreign texture on his shoulders. Looking down he found _he _was wearing Zoro's shirt. Glancing back up at his swordsman who was now shivering due to the loss of Luffy's body heat his eyes widened as it all came back to him. He fell off the ship and Zoro must have dived in to save him. This was his fault.

With frantic movements he quickly attempted to pull the garment off so that Zoro could have it back. Zoro tried to protest, telling him to keep it, but his movements were sluggish and weak. He also looked tired. Soon he held the shirt out for Zoro to take, but the swordsman merely shook his head and pushed Luffy's arms back.

"You need it more" he mumbled

"No Zoro" Luffy spoke seriously, none of his usual laughter in his voice "I'm the captain and I _order _you to put your shirt on.

With a shaky defeated sigh, Zoro took the shirt and slipped it over his head to cover his shaking body. His eyes moved to scan Luffy again as the boy did the same.

"Get some sleep" Luffy ordered, smiling "I'll get some food"

"There are no animals or edible plants" Zoro muttered tiredly as he lay back, close to the almost extinguished fire "I checked last night"

"I'll catch some fish then" Luffy grinned back "Get some rest"

"Sure thing captain" Zoro muttered as he lay down against the snow. He hadn't slept a wink last night, holding watch over his captain. It was good to know Luffy would be okay

Luffy sighed as he looked down on the 7 fish he'd caught. They were small; too small to feed both of them. He'd been fishing for hours and this was all he could catch, he guessed it was just too cold for the fish. A whine escaped his lips as his stomach rumbled and he looked back in the distance where Zoro was sleeping. Zoro had saved him and stayed up all night to watch him. Luffy was sure of that. That made Zoro weak and tired because Zoro had given Luffy his shirt so that he could stay warm which left Zoro cold. He had to make it up to him.

With a determined nod, the boy skewered his catch on a stick he'd found by the waters edge and headed back to where Zoro was laying, picking up more sticks as he went to replenish the fire.

Zoro woke feeling much better than he had a few hours ago. The smell of cooking fish hit him and he blinked his eyes open, turning his head to the side to see Luffy poking the fish as they cooked on a makeshift spit made of some sturdy tree branches. The boy was drooling, though obviously controlling himself from gobbling the meal.

"That our dinner?" Zoro asked gruffly, his voice rough from sleep

Luffy jumped slightly, not having noticed the swordsman was awake. He grinned at the man before nodding.

"It's _your _dinner" he laughed "I already ate!"

Zoro eyed the seven small fish. They were _very _small in fact. He glared lightly at his captain. The boy had probably eaten all of the big ones he caught before he'd woken up. At least he'd eaten well and saved _some _for him.

Luffy handed the cooked fish to his first mate and watched with hungry eyes as the man ate every bite. When he was finished Zoro looked to the sky and his eyes widened as he saw how dark it was. Had he really been asleep that long?

"Come on Luffy" he called as he settled down again holding his arm up "Come and lie next to me and we'll keep each other warm"

Luffy nodded and moved to lie next to Zoro as his first mate wrapped his arms around him. Zoro really didn't care how they looked right now. What mattered was surviving and if this is what it took, then this is what he'd do. Neither of them was going to die before they achieved their dreams. It would only be so long before merry found them … they hoped.

* * *

**_To be continued! Whahah. Um yeah._**

**_Give Clarobell some reviews or I'm gonna send the baby-pink ferrets of horror after all of you!_**


	4. Hunger

**-yawn- Allrighty then guys New chapter from Clarobell. Please give her some squees okie day?**

* * *

**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

_**by**_

_**Shiruji-chan & Clarobell**_

**Chapter 4 – Hunger:**

Luffy panted as he moved the final rock to its rightful place moving to sit against one of them and resting his head against it. He and Zoro had decided to make a signal so that when the rest of the crew came searching for them, they would know they were there. It had taken a long time as they had searched across the island, bringing back boulders, huge in size to make sure the crew would be able to see them. It had taken a while for them to choose what word they would put so that the crew would be sure to know it was them. In the end Zoro had agreed with Luffy that they _would _indeed know it was their rubber captain if they saw _that _particular word.

And so in the middle of the shore, spread across in huge letters, spelled out in boulders of gargantuan proportion sat the word 'MEAT'. The remaining straw hats really couldn't miss it.

With a satisfied sigh Zoro collapsed next to the boy and turned to face him with a smile, expecting the boy to be smiling back at him as he usually was. His smile fell as he saw Luffy had none to offer him and looked as if he was ready to sleep right there on the spot. His brow creased in worry for his captain. It had only been a few boulders from around the island. Luffy usually had such endless energy, it was shocking to see him so worn out after something that he would usually consider a medium work out.

"Hey" Zoro called, nudging the boy slightly "You okay?"

Luffy's eyes snapped open and he turned to look at Zoro before flashing him a wide grin and a nod. Zoro returned it with a smirk of his own. Maybe he was just worrying too much, it was probably just the after affects of being in the water for so long yesterday.

"Hey" Zoro called again after a short while "You feel up to looking for some shelter? I don't know about you, but I don't feel like spending another night outside in this weather"

"Nu-uh!" Luffy agreed "It's _cold _at night!"

"C'mon then"

Luffy got up along with Zoro and the two started their trek through the dense forest. From what they had seen so far the island they were on was _totally _uninhabited. They seen no sign of any kind of person or even animal meaning the plant growth had been completely untouched and the plants had grown huge and wild making it difficult to travel. If Zoro would have had his swords he was sure there would be no problem, but as it was, he would just have to suck it up and deal.

Zoro marched ahead as Luffy lagged back a little, the lack of food taking its toll on the boy. He hadn't eaten now in over two days as it was morning when he fell overboard and he hadn't eaten breakfast before then. His limbs felt weak as he pushed himself forward and he was glad that there weren't any creatures on the island. He didn't think he'd be able to fight them off right now. Not that he wasn't glad that he'd given the food to Zoro. Zoro was his best friend and made him feel all tingly inside when he saw him happy and Luffy would do anything for Zoro and was sure Zoro would do anything for him.

Slowly Luffy started to sway from side to side as he pushed himself forward. His half lidded eyes blinked lazily as his vision waned and dimmed and his world spun. Silently he collapsed into the snow in an unconscious heap, leaving Zoro to march on ahead of him, totally unaware.

It was another 5 minutes or so before Zoro realised how quiet it was and turned back to Luffy only to find him gone. A low growl of annoyance escaped his throat as he began to march back in the direction he came in search of his captain. It wasn't anything uncommon for Luffy to stray from the group of to go off alone, distracted by a butterfly or simply pulled by his endless curiosity, but in a situation such as this they had to stick together. He'd make sure to tell Luffy that when he found him. Sometimes Luffy actually listened to him. Sometimes.

All thoughts of scolding the boy vanished as Zoro spotted his all too familiar red vest and unmoving form on the ground up ahead. His march broke into a run as he sprinted to his captain's side, checking to make sure he was okay. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realised Luffy was only unconscious. Brushing some stray white powder from the boys face from the falling snow, Zoro's brow creased in worry. Why would Luffy just pass out? Surely he wasn't _that _affected by the seawater, he'd fallen in the ocean plenty of times before. Suddenly the answer came to him as he thought back to the night before. Luffy looked so hungry eyeing those cooking fish.

"_That our dinner?" Zoro asked gruffly, his voice rough from sleep_

_Luffy jumped slightly, not having noticed the swordsman was awake. He grinned at the man before nodding._

"_It's your dinner" he laughed "I already ate!"_

_Zoro eyed the seven small fish. They were very small in fact. He glared lightly at his captain. The boy had probably eaten all of the big ones he caught before he'd woken up. At least he'd eaten well and saved some for him._

_Luffy handed the cooked fish to his first mate and watched with hungry eyes as the man ate every bite._

"Damn it Luffy" he whispered as he picked the boy up gently "Why'd you do that?"

Slowly he made his way back to their makeshift camp and laid the boy by the campfire. He'd have to find something to eat for them soon or they'd _both _pass out from hunger. The sun was still high in the sky as it was early afternoon. It wouldn't be getting dark for another good few hours. Hopefully that would be enough time for Zoro to find or make them a shelter for the night.

Throwing one last glance back at his unconscious captain, Zoro moved back into the dense forest.

Luffy woke to the smell of roasting fish and licked his lips hungrily. He was still on the borders of sleep, where his body was still asleep but his mind was waking up. He shifted a little and tiredly blinked his eyes open when he felt … tied up. Looking down he saw he was wrapped in numerous giant, _fuzzy _leaves. Blinking slowly he moved to sit up, not bothering to stifle a tired yawn.

"I see you're awake then captain" came Zoro's voice

Luffy jumped a little just like the other day; he had not expected to hear the other man's voice. Turning his head towards his first mate he focused sleepy eyes on him. Man, he felt drained. As that thought flittered through his head he was reminded of the roasting fish and turned his gaze to hungrily stare at them.

"They're almost done Luffy" Zoro answered the unasked question "Just relax okay?"

Luffy nodded and shuffled so that he was leaning against the wall, and that's when he realised they were inside a cave. Looking around he took in the sounds, shapes and colours of the cave. As a boy he'd explored many on his home island, both natural and man made. _This _cave was _not _natural.

Zoro watched as Luffy glanced around the cave before his eyes widened and the boy turned to stare at him. For a brief moment he wondered what could be wrong, but snuffed it away. Luffy was probably just tired … or had seen something shiny.

He gazed at the makeshift blankets he'd made with some fuzzy leaves from the forest. He'd also made some for himself for when night came (which wasn't too far off now) but didn't need them yet. The shelter was proving more than adequate to keep him warm by trapping the heat from the fire he'd started. The giant leaves covering the front of the cave also helped keep the heat in and were secured with sharp rocks into the mountainside above the cave entrance to make sure they wouldn't be blown away when the night's winds started up.

"Zoro … made this cave?"

The swordsman resisted the urge to jump, having not expected Luffy to speak yet, at least not until he'd eaten something.

"Uh … yeah" Zoro mumbled back

"Are Zoro's hands hurt?" Luffy asked again

The swordsman glanced down at his hands which were wrapped tightly in some torn off strips of his shirt, the sleeves to be more precise. He briefly wondered how Luffy survived with just a vet in this kind of weather, but the boy never really complained of being clod. Come to think of it, Luffy hadn't complained or whined the whole time he'd been awake. That just wasn't Luffy. Realising Luffy was still staring at him, waiting for an answer Zoro brought his attention back to his captain.

"Uh no" Zoro answered "Not really"

Luffy blinked and cocked his head to the side. Looking at the jagged rocks around him in the cave, Zoro had probably punched the mountain until he'd made a hole big enough for the both of them. Blood was seeping through the makeshift bandages and Luffy's brow knit in worry for his first mate. Zoro _needed _his hands. He needed them to be a swordsman and now he'd hurt them just to help Luffy. The boy sighed and shivered slightly, shuffling closer to the fire in his fuzzy leaves. His arms were trapped within the soft plants, but Luffy didn't mind it kept him warm … not as warm as when he slept with Zoro though … would Zoro still sleep with him now that he had these?

"Okay Luffy, here you go"

Zoro handed the boy a large pile of fish. From the size of the pile, Luffy knew he had probably spent the whole day catching them. It made him wonder how long he'd been asleep. Looking from his pile to Zoro he noticed the swordsman had kept none back for himself. Wriggling out of his blanket and shivering as the cold air touched his bare arms, Luffy reached out and split the pile in half, though his pile was admittedly a _little _bigger. Zoro merely pushed the fish back to him.

"Zoro needs to eat too" Luffy stated

"Zoro ate already" the swordsman replied

"No he didn't" Luffy replied. Zoro raised an eyebrow and looked at his captain sceptically

"Like Luffy didn't when he told me he had?"

Luffy fidgeted a little, not comfortable at being caught.

"Luffy wanted his Zoro to get better"

Zoro raised his eyebrow a little further at Luffy referring to him as _his_, but didn't comment on it. If the boy wanted to play it this way, then he was game. It's not as if anybody was around to hear them anyway.

"And then Zoro's Luffy got sick" he replied seriously "He slept for two days and had a fever"

Zoro had to hold back the smirk as his words hit Luffy and he saw the boy looking guilty for lying to him. Really he didn't like to be like this, but if they were going to get out of this then they had to stick together, no playing heroes.

"Sorry Zoro"

It was so quiet he barely heard what his captain had said, but the meaning was understood. He leaned over a bit so that his shoulder was touching Luffy's. **_I forgive you_**. Luffy understood the gesture loud and clear. His face lit up in a smile before he dug into his pile of fish and before long it was gone, bones and all. He looked back at Zoro with sad eyes.

"Zoro didn't get any" he mumbled

"I told you Luffy" Zoro smiled back "I ate a little while ago, about four hours – I don't need anywhere near as much as you"

"Promise?"

"Yeah" Zoro laughed at his captain's antics. Luffy could be so cute sometimes "I promise"

The captain grinned and Zoro stretched pulling his furry leaf towards him.

"I'm going to bed now Luffy" he muttered tiredly "Don't leave the cave in the night, its cold out"

"Okay Zoro!" Luffy chirped happily as he too lay down squirming closer to the fire and wrapping himself up in his leaf. A strong hand pulled him slightly further away and Luffy whined. Zoro couldn't help but smirk; it was a sign the boy was getting back to normal.

"Not too close captain" he muttered sleepily "You roll a lot in your sleep, wouldn't want you rolling into the fire"

The swordsman couldn't hold back the chuckle as Luffy scooted away from the fire again until he was only inches from his first mate. The cave fell silent as he closed his eyes and slept, satisfied his captain was safe.

* * *

**Yay! ** **Okie folx, from chapter 7 and up, me and Clare will be role playing the chapters. So look forward to it, ne? oohh and did I tell you we love torturing Luffy? Because we do!**

**Review! Or me and Clare will have come and torture you untill you're both blue and green **


	5. Glass Easily Shatter

**And we're back! -grin- Have ya looked forward for this? ne ne? ...awh forget it. Awh well I have to note again that this is Clarobell's writing.  
The roleplayed chapters will come at chapter 7 and up. Okieday? Goody.**

**oooh, I almost forgot the disclaimer: I don't own One Piece,Zoro or Luffy. They belong to Oda-Sensei.**

**There, now on with the reading **

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**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

_**by**_

_**Shiruji-chan & Clarobell**_

_**Chapter 5 – Glass easily shatter**_

Luffy couldn't sleep. Zoro was snoring loudly next to him, but that wasn't keeping him awake. He'd slept in the same area as Zoro for months and months now, sometimes Luffy found he couldn't sleep _without _Zoro snoring, because then he knew his first mate wasn't there. What kept him awake was the cold. He didn't usually let it bother him, but he'd been so warm snuggled up against Zoro but now he had a blanket so Zoro didn't need to snuggle up to him to keep him warm.

With a soft sigh Luffy sat up and looked at his sleeping swordsman. The bandages on his hands were now blotted red and if they weren't taken care of they could get infected. Luffy knew because he'd cut himself plenty of time as he grew up and he had to take care of himself after Ace left the island.

With a determined nod Luffy made his way out of the cave and shivered, wrapping his arms around himself as the icy night winds stabbed into him, blowing straight through his thin vest. He pushed forward until he reached a stream he and Zoro had passed a few days earlier and looked around for something that might be used to cup the water so that he could bring it back to the cave. He smiled as he spotted some leaves and dipped them into the water but frowned as the water kept trickling out from the side. How was he supposed to use the leaves if he couldn't keep them together? A grin lit up his face and he pulled his straw hat away from his head, resting the leaves inside of it and dipping it in the water. He smiled triumphantly as the water stayed put and head back to the cave.

Luffy breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Zoro still snoring contentedly under his furry leaf. The swordsman had told him not to go out at night, but he couldn't just sit there and let Zoro's injuries get worse! The rubber boy moved forward and pulled Zoro hand that was resting by his head towards him. Zoro didn't stir. On the Going Merry Luffy would always annoy him, trying to wake him up and get him to play with him, so he was used to the boy tugging at his arms whilst he was asleep and had learned to ignore it.

Slowly Luffy peeled the makeshift bandages from his first mates hand and dipped them in the water, using them as a cloth to wipe away any blood and dirt that remained. From the looks of it Zoro hadn't even washed his hands properly.

**_He'd probably been too busy looking after me _**Luffy thought idly as frown marred his face

After a few minutes of softly tending to Zoro's cuts along his knuckles and hands Luffy was satisfied and looked around for a new bandage. He couldn't put the old one on, it was dirty now. Finding nothing he pulled at the bottom of his vest until a strip ripped off of it. It didn't really matter to him, he had lots of vests, but he only had one Zoro.

Tying the bandage in a knot after wrapping the hand, Luffy moved onto Zoro's other hand and continued his gentle treatment. He may not be anywhere near as good as Chopper, but it was better than nothing. Before long he was finished and sat with his torn vest which now showed around an inch of his stomach. He smiled at his work as Zoro continued to sleep like a log. It wasn't like the swordsman to sleep through all that touching, but he had been known after battles to sleep through pretty much anything, so Luffy presumed he had been tired out from all of his work over the past few days. After all, he'd had to swim for hours holding both himself _and _Luffy who was _extremely _heavy in the water, then he'd had to search the island, then they'd made the signal and then he'd done all _sorts _of stuff while Luffy had slept. Luffy was so grateful to have a friend like Zoro.

He leaned down and gingerly hugged the snoozing man.

"You're the best first mate in the whole world!" he whispered enthusiastically before pulling away

A cold shiver ran down his spine as the freezing winds blew against his exposed flesh and Luffy shivered. He grabbed his hat and moved to the front of the cave where he tossed the water and removed the leaves before placing it back on his head. Slowly he trudged back next to Zoro and yawned. He was getting sleepy now. Shivering, he pulled his furry leaf around him and lay down next to his first mate, but this time the leaf didn't seem to keep out the cold. He glanced up at Zoro who was still sleeping soundly and making up his mind, slid under the swordsman's leaf to press up against his warm body, sighing as it flooded into his own. Wrapping his own leaf around the both of them, Luffy slowly drifted off to sleep.

The first thing Zoro registered when he woke was the lack of pain. His hands had been throbbing since he'd used them to pummel a cave into the mountainside, though it was nothing he couldn't stand, it was nice to be rid of the ache. The second thing he registered was the warmth. It was _way _warmer than it should be on a winter island … maybe it was due to the body pressed up against his.

_**Body pressed up against his?**_

Zoro's eyes snapped open in shock before half closing again in relief as he realised it was only Luffy. The boy had probably gotten cold in the night and snuggled up to him. It was nothing unusual, he had half expected it. His hand which was resting on the boy's side shifted slightly and came in contact with skin. Zoro's eyebrows furrowed and he moved to pull down Luffy's vest which he presumed had ridden up in the night. When he felt there was nothing to pull his confusion grew until he remembered his hands and pulled them from under the cosy leaf to inspect the bandages he'd made. But those _weren't _his bandages. They were Luffy's vest, or at least part of it.

He moved to glare at the boy, but the glare died as soon as it landed on his sleeping features. Luffy had only been thinking of him after all. Heaving a defeated sigh he pulled the boy closer. If Luffy gave up half his vest, he may as well keep the boy warm.

Everything was so warm and soft and strong and snug. Luffy had never been so calm, comfortable and relaxed in his whole life. It felt like he was a kid again when he crawled into Ace's bed after a really bad nightmare and Ace would look after him. Whatever it was that made him feel like it was soooo nice. He burrowed his head against the warmth and it shifted a little, pulling away. Luffy moaned in his sleep and pushed forward again. Why was it leaving? Don't go, it's nice!

Zoro flinched away when Luffy pressed himself further against him. He tried to pull away but Luffy just pushed forward again, moaning slightly and making Zoro's stomach do flip flops. The swordsman shook his head and moved to pull away again, but Luffy's arms reached out and wrapped around his torso, effectively stopping all struggles as he pushed his whole body against his first mates, sighing in contentment. By now Zoro was a nice shade of pink and had given up struggling against his persistent, sleeping captain. His whole body was tingling now and his face flushed deeper, to a crimson colour.

Soft snores echoed through the air and Zoro forced himself to relax. It was just Luffy, so why was he so worked up? With a sigh he looked down at the snoozing boy and tightened his arms as a small gust of wind blew in through the mouth of the cave. A though struck him and he looked down at Luffy again. How was he going to do this without waking him? With his mind made up, Zoro tightened his grip and gently rolled over so that Luffy was resting on top of him before completing the roll so that the boy was at the closed end of the cave and Zoro body was protecting him from the wind.

"There" Zoro muttered to himself "Much better"

He loosened his grip on the boy and smiled as Luffy carried on sleeping soundly. Time passed quickly and soon Luffy was awake … and hungry. Soon they would e going out fishing for their meals for the day, but first Zoro had some things he had to clear up.

"Luffy?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you do this?" he was gesturing to the bandages on his hands

"Because Zoro's hands were hurt!" Luffy replied cheerfully "So fixed em!"

"But now you have no shirt"

"So? I have lots more back on Merry!"

"Exactly, and who knows how long it will be before the rest of the guys find us?"

"Then Zoro will keep me warm!"

Zoro fought back the growing blush at that comment and Luffy laughed.

"Damn it Luffy!" Zoro shouted suddenly "It's not funny!"

Luffy's laughter stopped at th serious and angry tone in his swordsman's voice.

"But Zoro-"

"You could freeze out here just because you decided to tear up your vest!"

"But Zoro's hands were-"

"You never think about what you do – you just do it!"

"But I was thinking about-"

"You can be so stupid sometimes!" Zoro shouted "You're so reckless!"

Now Luffy was getting angry.

"Me?" he asked defensively "I'm not the one who busted up my hands to make a cave and then didn't take care of them!"

"Well I would have had to do that if _somebody _hadn't passed out from NOT EATING!"

"Well I only did that because you were tired from looking after me!"

"I was only tired because I had to jump in the water after you carelessly fell in!"

"Then next time just let me DROWN!"

With that Luffy turned on his heel and marched out of the cave fuming. Zoro watched silently as the word sank in.

_Then next time just let me DROWN!_

"Never" he whispered to the empty cave "I could never do that"

But nobody was listening. Luffy was long gone and it was all his fault. How did things escalate so quickly, he hadn't meant to go nuts at the boy, but sometimes he worried him so much he couldn't help it and the only way his worry showed was through his anger.

"Me and my big mouth" Zoro muttered as he trudged out of the cave. Maybe he could catch up to Luffy…

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**Give uss squees(reviews) or Shiru will have to send the demented pink kamikaze fishies on ya!**


	6. Avalanche

**Haha D Did ya miss uss? Well we're baaack! Thanks to all of you who has reviewed. We love you all unh! **

**oh yeah the disclaimer! ; I keep frogetting it. Oops ahaha ; : I Do not own One Piece. One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda-sensei D

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**

**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

_**by**_

_**Shiruji-chan & Clarobell**_

**Chapter 6 – Avalanche**

Luffy huffed as he marched through the snow, yelping as he suddenly trod in a deep patch and sank straight through. Angrily he pulled himself out shivering and walking faster to try and warm his now numb leg.

"Stupid Zoro!" he muttered angrily "Always being so mad!"

He continued to storm across the snowy landscape raging about his first mate and clutching his arms around his bare waist. _It was so cold!_

Soon he came to another shore of the winter island and huffed turning back and marching the way he had come. After a few more minutes of walking he realised he was lost.

"Stupid, stupid Zoro!" Luffy shouted, punching his fists into the mountainside "This is all **HIS FAULT!**"

His voice echoed across the skies and Luffy looked up in wonder as his sentence was repeated again and again. With a sigh he turned away and started to tread away from the mountain. His head raised a little as he heard a rumbling sound and he turned back around, looking up to where it had come from. Nothing. With a shrug he turned away again, but failed to notice the loose clumps of snow starting to fall form the mountainside. In seconds the rest of the snow came hurting towards him and Luffy broke into a sprint to try and escape it.

Whether it was the lack of food in his system, the fight with Zoro, or all the stress form the last few days Luffy didn't know, but he seemed slower than usual. Too slow. The snow enveloped him like a cottony winter blanket, burying him before he had a chance to cry out.

Then the land was silent.

Zoro sneezed as he stomped his way around the mountain. He was lost _again_. He had searched the whole island and Luffy was nowhere in sight. Releasing a shaky sigh he looked up at the sky. He had to have been out here for 4 hours now. It wasn't _that _big an island so where could he have gone?

Suddenly the swordsman stopped looking around the area. What was that he'd just felt? It was the feeling he got whenever Luffy was near, the way he always found his way back to the boy. Call it a sixth sense, but Zoro knew Luffy was close by. His eyes widened suddenly as he spotted a tattered old straw hat sticking half way out of a huge mound of snow.

"No" he muttered as he ran forward, hands digging into the ice and pulling clumps away to reveal the trapped boy underneath "Please no"

Checking for a pulse Zoro sighed in relief as he found one, although weak as it was. He swept away more of the snow and pulled is captain from the pile, holding him in his arms as he looked around frantically for their shelter. The boy in his arms was _freezing _and his breaths came in shallow and weak gasps. He musts have been under there for ages.

Zoro recalled earlier hearing a distant rumbling, but had shrugged it off. There must have been an avalanche – that would men Luffy had been trapped under the ice for hours!

Swearing under his breath Zoro started to run in the any direction, praying it was the right one, and for once luck was on his side. Within minutes he was back at their makeshift shelter and he was pulling off Luffy's soaked and freezing clothes, dressing him in his own and wrapping him in the leaves to try and war him up.

"C'mon Luffy" he whispered "Don't do this to me"

Zoro scrambled to the fire, throwing spare twigs on it to try and build it up before running back to his captain's side and rubbing his arms and legs in attempt to warm him up. The boys skin was a light blue, a far shade from the usual tan Zoro was so used to seeing.

After a solid hour, colour slowly started returning to Luffy's face and the rest of his body. Zoro slumped tiredly next to the boy, grateful that he was going to be okay. The swordsman doubted his captain would be waking up nay time soon, but then again, this was Luffy, the guy who woke up the day after being frozen solid; the only difference was this time he had no resources to properly help him.

Looking down at the boy, Zoro wondered how he could have gotten himself in such a mess. If there'd been an avalanche, the Luffy should have been able to outrun it, but then again, he hadn't eaten properly in over two days and they'd both almost frozen to death one already on their first night on the island, not to mention to prolonged exposure to sea. It seemed to all be taking its toll on the boy.

Brushing a stray tuft of snow from Luffy's hair, Zoro sighed and curled in a little tighter on himself. He now had no clothes and it would stay that way until Luffy's were dry. He had hung them over a few sticks on the fire, hoping that the structure would collapse and burn whatever was left of Luffy's shirt. His jean shorts were off to the side, next to the fire, being too heavy to be supported by the sticks.

A shuddering breath from his captain brought Zoro back from his thoughts and thankfully took his mind away from his own freezing state. AT this rate neither of them would make it off this island. The boy was now shivering again and Zoro scooted closer, pulling him into his lap so that Luffy's back was pressed against his chest. He wrapped his arms around the boy offering what warmth he could and sat just the way he had on the first night they'd spent on the island.

"Zoro…" Luffy's voice rasped "… I'm … cold…"

To say Zoro was surprised was an understatement. He hadn't expected Luffy to wake up until at _least _tomorrow. He frowned at how weak his captain sounded. Luffy and weak were foreign concepts. They didn't really mix well in Zoro's opinion.

"I know" he whispered back shuffling slightly as Luffy curled in on him "Keep close and I'll keep you warm"

Luffy shuffled sideways a bit until his cheek was resting against Zoro's chest and he was lying on his side rather than his back. A shaky hand crept beside his face to rest on top of Zoro. Suddenly despite the cold Zoro felt warm. _Very _warm. He felt his face heat up and shook his head to get rid of the feeling, no matter how nice it was to not feel the cold or a second.

"Mmm" Luffy muttered rubbing his head on Zoro's bare chest "Zoro's _hot_!"

This time Zoro was sure he was as red as a tomato. The way Luffy had said that so sleepily and dragging out the 'hot' just seemed so … _sexy_! How could he think of his captain – of Luffy – as sexy? Shaking his head again Zoro noticed the soft breathing coming from his no longer shivering captain. He was asleep. With a sigh of relief Zoro shifted a bit and wapped his arms a little more firmly around the boy in his arms.

Luffy was going to make it out of this if it killed him!

With that thought in mind Zoro slowly drifted off to sleep. The next morning Zoro awoke to find his arms empty and almost had a heart attack on the spot. After looking up, he sighed and relaxed spotting Luffy crouched by the fire. He got to his feet and walked over to the boy raising an eyebrow as he noticed he had his own clothes back on and his clothes were next to the fire.

"What are you doing up?" he demanded gently "You should be asleep"

"I'm okay Zoro" Luffy replied quietly. Zoro's brow creased at the serious, almost sad tone in the boy's voice

"You're being stupid Luffy, you almost-" Zoro didn't get the chance to finish his sentence

"Zoro's stupid"

"What?"

It was that same tone again, though there was a little bit of an edge to it now, almost as if Luffy was angry.

"You're stupid Zoro!"

Zoro resisted the urge to reel back at Luffy's raspy shout. He knew the boy was serious now when he didn't play his little word games and refer to his first mate in third person. And so he replied with the one word that came to his mind.

"Why?"

"Zoro's stupid" Luffy said softer this time "Because Zoro gave his clothes to em and could have got really sick"

The boy was prodding the fire with a stray twig now, his eyes focused on the flames, refusing to rise.

"You might have died if I didn't"

"But what if Zoro got sick and _he _died?" Luffy asked

"Then at least I would have saved my captain"

Luffy stayed silent for a while and Zoro presumed he had accepted his answer. Gently he tugged at the boy's arm noticing his skin still wasn't the usual healthy tan, but more pasty and he seemed he was warm to the touch.

**_Great _**Zoro thought agitatedly **_He's sick_**

Luffy didn't protest and moved to lie down further inside the cave. He still felt worn out and the only reason he'd gotten up was so that Zoro could have his clothes back. His were still a bit soggy, but nothing he couldn't put up with. He watched as Zoro slipped his clothes back on, he had put them by the fire so he hoped they were warm for him. Neither spoke a word as they settled down, Zoro by the fire and Luffy a little further away.

Zoro's tensed as Luffy spoke his next sentence before going to sleep.

"Luffy would die without Zoro"

Luffy had been asleep for 3 hours when Zoro decided he couldn't take it any more. The boy was starting to look flushed with fever and if the crew didn't find them soon it could get worse. His last words echoed around in Zoro's head and the swordsman couldn't seem to get them out of his head. Luffy dying was out of the question and that was that. With what he had seen the boy do, the mere concept of him dying seemed almost unbelievable, but looking to his left Zoro sighed knowing it in fact was very possible.

He was broken from his thoughts as his stomach grumbled hungrily. It reminded him that Luffy would probably be starving by the time he woke up and yet all they could get was a fish here and there and they weren't even a decent size. Grunting he got to his feet and casting one last look his captain's way stepped out of the cave and into the freezing snow. They had searched all of the lower island but had not explored what resided at the top as the higher they went, the colder it got, but with their food running low it seemed Zoro had no choice but to go there. Surely there had to be _some _kind of animal living up there. Then they could at least have _one _decent meal. Shivering, he trudged through the snow and slowly made his way up the mountainside.

Luffy woke some time later to find he was alone. Tiredly dragging himself ot his feet he wandered to the edge of the cave to see if he could spot his missing first mate. It hadn't snowed since Zoro left and so Luffy easily spotted the swordsman's trail. He followed it for a while stopping as he saw the change in landscape. Zoro's tracks lead up the mountain.

Without another thought Luffy broke into a run, sprinting up the mountain side as fast as he could, ignoring as his body protested to the punishment it was receiving. The air got thicker and it started to get a little bit harder to breathe. His already foggy head became foggier and he stumbled a little as a dizzy spell hit. He waited for it to pass before continuing at a slower rate until finally he came to a flat stretch of land. He rounded the next corner and couldn't hold back the gasp.

There was Zoro beside a huge beast resembling a bear covered in blood as the crimson fluid tainted the snow around them.

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	7. Reunion with food and weird feelings

**Oh my God! So many reviews for chapter 6. THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYBODY! As a thanks you get free CHOCOLATE! -throws chocolate bars around the room- ...But don't eat them all. Okay? -shifty eyes-**

**Allright! From this chapter and up: Roleplayed betwen me and Clare. Chapters rewritten by Clarobell.**

**Make sure to give her squees ne:3**

**

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**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

_**by**_

_**Shiruji-chan & Clarobell**_

**Chapter 7 – Reunion with food and weird feelings**

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Luffy broke into a run stumbling as he rushed to his swordsman's side. 

"ZOROOO!"

He kneeled by Zoro's side and shook him desperately, jumping as a loud snore escaped form his mouth. His worry subsided as he noticed more snores and a chuckle escaped his lips

"Stupid Zoro" he panted as his vision dimmed and he fell into unconsciousness "Don't ... do ... that..."

Hours passed as both Luffy and Zoro lay in the snow unconscious. It had started snowing again and the two were both half covered in a layer of the white powder. A groan emitted from the motionless swordsman as he started to wake.

"Uhh…" he moaned as he blearily opened his eyes and was shocked to see another person in front of him "…Luffy?"

The younger boy gave no response and Zoro's heart beat a little faster. What was he doing here? How did he get here? He should be resting! How long had he been out?

"What the h-hell are you doing here?" the swordsman muttered weakly, stuttering as he shivered.

Still he got no response from the boy and he lifted his arms up, groaning at the effort, to nudge the dark haired boy. Slowly Luffy came to, coughing a little as he cracked one eye open.

"Z-Zoro?"

"Luffy, w-what the hell are you d-doing here?" Zoro asked as he shivered harder.

"I … w-was…" Luffy was broken off by a series of coughs and Zoro's brow knit in worry. He glared weakly at the boy in front of him.

"I thought I t-told you to rest?"

"I was … w-worried" Luffy muttered as he swallowed, trying to stay awake.

"L-Look at you!" Zoro scolded, raising his hand to Luffy's forehead "You're b-burning up!"

"But Zoro wasn't there…" Luffy replied, interrupted by a cough before continuing "…when I w-woke up"

"I told you! I'm f-fine!" Zoro sighed "I only went to g-get us some food!"

"But Zoro … Zoro could have gotten killed" Luffy protested "And without his swords…"

One again Luffy was cut off by a coughing fit. Zoro waited for it to pass before continuing.

"Luffy…" Zoro replied, softer this time "I j-just want you to get out of this okay! You're too important to d-die here"

Zoro wasn't sure whether Luffy noticed that the stutter on the word 'die' wasn't down to the cold, but then again, looking at the boy's flushed features, he doubted he noticed anything much right now.

"I … I won't die" Luffy grinned weakly "I have a … dream to fulfil"

"That's coming from the g-guy who can't get a decent s-sentence out!" Zoro smirked "Look at you L-Luffy … w-why'd you come up here?"

"I already told you that … silly" Luffy coughed out.

Zoro rolled his eyes and shifted a little closer to Luffy in hopes of giving the boy whatever warmth he could offer.

"Look where it got you" he sighed, realising that moaning at Luffy was getting them nowhere "At east I g-got us some meat eh?"

"Yay!" Luffy cheered back weakly "Meat!"

Zoro groaned and propped himself up on his elbows before attempting to get to his feet. He made it to his knees before falling back down into the snow and almost squashing his captain. He groaned again as he realised practically his entire body was numb with a dull ache running through it. They must have been out in the snow for quite a while and that, along with the stress and lack of food, had taken its toll on the two. He wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

"Luffy … I don't know about you, but I don't think I can move."

"If Zoro can't … I-I could try"

Zoro sighed as Luffy tried and failed to even prop himself up. There would be no help there. The boy moved to try again, but Zoro stopped him.

"Don't bother Luffy … if I can't I d-don't think you have m-much of a chance"

Luffy didn't reply and Zoro sighed again. Surely this wasn't how they were going to die. They still had their dreams to fulfil and promises to keep. Zoro didn't know why, but for the first time since he joined Luffy he felt a stab of hopelessness in his gut. Maybe it was due to the situation, or maybe it was down to the fact his captain was rasping beside him. The swordsman didn't know and he didn't like it either.

"I'm sorry Luffy" he spoke finally "If I hadn't have come up h-here, we wouldn't b-be in this m-mess!"

"Stupid Zoro…" Luffy breathe before his eyes slid closed and he fell unconscious

Zoro turned his head slightly as Luffy fell silent and his eyes widened as he saw the boy was no longer awake. Shifting onto his side he grabbed Luffy's vest and shook it weakly.

"Luffy? … Luffy! LUFFY DON'T YOU DARE DO THIS TO ME!" Zoro yelled dragging himself to his knees "Don't you dare…"

The swordsman trailed off as his head swam and he shook it, trying to gather his thoughts.

"We're not supposed to…" Again his head was spinning and he had to steady himself with a hand on the ground, his grip on Luffy's vest loosening without his notice "…die…here…"

With the last of his strength before he passed out, Zoro slumped onto Luffy's body, hoping against hope that he could give the boy some kind of protection against the weather.

Consciousness slowly came back to Zoro and it was a few minutes before he managed to open his eyes, muffling a groan as the light assaulted them.

"About time you woke up Marimo"

"What the… what the hell?" Zoro asked, eyes wide with disbelief "Sanji…?"

"Who else?"

"Are the rest of the crew here?" Zoro asked weakly lifting himself up so that his upper body was supported on his elbows

"Just rest for now moss-head" Sanji muttered "We'll talk when Luffy wakes up"

Zoro turned his head to the side and spotted the still unconscious Luffy as he breathed deeply and evenly in his sleep. It seemed the boy was doing better than when he had last seen him. He wanted to ask Sanji how long he'd been out and why they weren't back on Merry yet, but reluctantly he found himself falling into the realms of sleep once more. After a few seconds he stopped fighting to stay awake and fell into the blackness.

When Zoro woke up, he presumed he had been out for quite a while as it was now starting to get dark. From where he was lying he cold see Sanji leaning over the fire cooking chunks of what appeared to be the monster he had killed up on the mountain. The smell assaulted his nose and he inhaled deeply, almost snorting in his half asleep state. The smell caused an instant reaction and his stomach growled loudly alerting Sanji to the fact that he was awake.

"Took you long enough Marimo" Sanji muttered, prodding at the meat with a branch

"Shut up cheese-head" Zoro spat before noticing Luffy was awake beside him "You okay Luffy?"

Luffy swallowed, trying to get his voice to work before answering.

"Zoro, I think I'm sick" he replied weakly "I'm seeing Sanji's…"

"You're not sick" Zoro chuckled before frowning "Wait … _Sanji's_! As in more than _one_ Sanji?"

Luffy squinted in the dying light towards the cook who was eyes him with a raised eyebrow.

"…yeah"

"What the fuck!" Zoro shouted, sitting up "Haven't you been taking care of him!"

"OI!" Sanji shouted back "I've done the best I can with what I have!"

"Why don't you just get Chopper?" Zoro asked confused

"He's not here" Sanji replied

"What do you mean he's not here?"

"I meant what I said; I'm the only one here"

"Then how the fuck did you get here?" Zoro snapped

"I jumped in after you two!" Sanji shouted before calming "But we got separated when I dived and then I couldn't find you"

"So why didn't you go back to Merry?"

"Same reason as you I guess – I couldn't see t when I came back up"

Zoro snorted "So how come we haven't seen you here then?"

"I guess I drifted to the other side of the island and we just missed each other"

"Its possible I guess" Zoro muttered turning to look at Luffy who had been eerily quiet "Hey, you okay?"

The rubber boy turned to look at his first mate.

"I hope the others are okay" he replied blinking slowly

"Yeah" Zoro muttered under his breath so that Luffy wouldn't hear "I mean if us three are here, they may not be able to fight off an attack…"

"They're fine … I think" Sanji replied as he prodded at the cooking meat, turning it a little so that it wouldn't burn "They should find us soon – I doubt they could miss that signal you two left!"

Zoro smirked and Luffy grinned before suddenly both of their stomachs rumbled loudly.

"Oh … that reminds me Sanji – FOOD!"

"Looks like you're getting better" Sanji muttered

"I want that Sanji to make me beef, that Sanji to make me fish and that Sanji to make me chicken!"

"Spoke too soon" Sanji mumbled as he rolled his eyes "Your meats cooking Luffy, I'm heading out to get some more firewood – don't go getting yourselves killed again while I'm gone okay?"

"Che, whatever" Zoro muttered as Luffy grinned

Sanji left, leaving the two alone. After a while of silence Zoro glanced in Luffy's direction noticing the boys still slightly flushed features and a cough or sneeze that escaped him now and again. It was obvious he had the flu. The boy was eyeing the food hungrily as drool teetered on the edge of his lips waiting to fall off. Zoro shook his head, pulling his eyes away and hoping that Luffy hadn't noticed but it seemed the boy was still too engrossed in the food.

"Eyes off Luffy" he scolded "It's not ready yet"

Luffy pouted, but Zoro ignored it, keeping his eyes fixed on the wall.

"So how are you feeling?" Zoro asked finally

"I'm feeling great!" Luffy replied with a grin, though Zoro could tell it was fake, not to mention Luffy burst onto a coughing fit straight after saying it

"Liar … don't do that, that's Usopp's job" Zoro scolded half-heartedly "…you scared me Luffy"

"But … I wasn't lying!" Luffy protested through a cough "And you scared me too! I thought you were dead!"

"What? When?"

"Up on the mountain with that beast! You were covered in blood!"

"Well, sorry I guess – it was mostly the animals anyway – and if you hadn't have come up there you wouldn't have gotten sicker and could have come and helped me later!"

"But how was Luffy supposed to know that when Zoro hadn't said anything to him!" Luffy whined

"I'm sorry Luffy okay?" Zoro sighed "I just … I care about you too much to let you die here"

"Don't worry so much Zoro!" Luffy replied "I'm fine! Besides, Luffy doesn't want Zoro getting hurt either!"

"How can you be so positive all the time?" Zoro asked quietly "Don't you ever feel bad?"

"Of course I do" Luffy replied "I felt bad back when you were fighting the hawk eyes guy…"

"You felt bad then?" Zoo asked before sighing **_Why do I feel like this around him? Why can't I just let it go like I did in the past?_**

"Zoro should stop worrying so much about Luffy" the rubber boy frowned, as if reading the older man's thoughts

"Huh?" Zoro replied intelligently "You're my captain, it's my job to worry – I know you can take care of yourself, but you've got to be more careful! If Sanji didn't come then we could have died!"

"No we wouldn't have" Luffy stated stubbornly "I would have gotten us down if I had to."

"If I remember correctly captain" Zoro said rolling his eyes "You were the first one to pass out!"

"No fair!" Luffy pouted earning a small chuckle from his first mate. A long silenced followed as the two waited for their friend to return. Before long Zoro couldn't take it any more. It was kind of funny thinking on it, because before he would do anything to get Luffy to shut up, but now that Luffy was quiet he'd do anything to get him to say something. It just wasn't natural for Luffy to be so quiet!

"Luffy?"

"What?"

"Uh, nothing … when do you think Sanji will get back?"

"I don't know" Luffy replied, eyeing the meat as a weak cough escaped his lips

"You don't sound so good – you want some meat?" Zoro asked, shuffling closer to the fire

"Meat!" Luffy laughed

Zoro smirked at the boys enthusiasm and grabbed a nearby twig intending to stab it into the chunk of meat to see if it was done or not. What hadn't expected however was for the twig to snap, and when it did, his whole hand pressed against the sizzling meat. He hissed quietly as he pulled his burning hand away and waved it a little before resting it in his lap.

"Fuck" he muttered

Luffy seemed to instantly forget about the meat as soon as he heard Zoro's hiss of pain. He crawled up beside the green-haired man and grabbed the burning appendage to inspect it. Zoro blushed as Luffy brought the hand to his face squinting at it.

"Does it hurt?" he asked curiously

"Nah" Zoro replied trying to shake off the weird hot feeling

Luffy crawled onto Zoro's lap and poked at the burnt hand, cocking his head to the side as Zoro hissed a little.

"Really?"

"Not at all" he ground out through gritted teeth

"Oh?" Luffy asked, poking at a particularly red spot on the hand.

"STOP THAT!" Zoro yelled pulling his hand away.

"Oh, sorry" Luffy replied before grabbing said hand again and licking the red spot.

To say Zoro was shocked would be an understatement. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open, staring at the boy currently taking residence on his lap. Luffy merely grinned back at him.

"Why did you … do that?" he managed to splutter out

"I learned it when I was younger!" Luffy replied "Ace said that s-sliava … slavia … something like that makes the pain go away!"

"Uh … thanks?" Zoro stuttered, blushing harder "…I think ... here …"

Zoro handed Luffy some meat he'd skewed on a stick. Luffy cheered as stars sparkled in his eyes.

"MEAT!"

"You feeling better now?" Zoro asked after the boy had finished eating and held up two fingers "How many fingers?"

Luffy blinked a few times before replying. Slow on the uptake as usual.

"Two!" he grinned "I'm not sick silly Zoro!"

"Sure you're not" Zoro replied rolling his eyes

"How many Sanji's are there then Luffy?" Sanji's voice came from the doorway "Oh … am I interrupting something?"

Zoro blushed again and glared at Sanji whilst trying to remove Luffy from his lap as discretely as possible.

"Shut up love-cook" he growled irritably.

"Oh!" Luffy cried not noticing as Zoro moved him "Where'd the other Sanji's go?"

"Luffy…" Zoro and Sanji groaned.

"What?"

"Never mind" Sanji sighed before smirking "So how did you end up on Marimo's lap captain?"

"Oh!" Luffy blinked "Well Zoro burnt his hand so I-"

"Moss-head burnt his hand?" Sanji asked grabbing Zoro's hand "How'd you manage that?"

Zoro pulled his hand back and was about to answer, but was cut off by Luffy.

"Yeah, so I licked it so it won't hurt any more!" he stated proudly

"You _licked_ it?" Sanji asked, directing a smirk Zoro's way "So how did he burn it Luffy?"

"Oh" Luffy frowned before grinning "That's a secret"

Luffy knew after all that he shouldn't say anything about the meat that he accidentally ate.

"Oh?" Sanji asked raising an eyebrow and looking at Zoro

"Love-cook, why don't you just shut up and feed us – that's your job"

"FOOD SANJI!"

"Idiots" Sanji growled as he served out the meat.

In actual fact it was only a portion of the huge animal. Sanji had stored the rest with a layer of ice to keep it fresh. He watched as Luffy inhaled his food, holding back a laugh as Zoro ate faster as Luffy tried to steal some of his. It seems they were both on the road to recovery. All they had to do now was wait for the rest of the crew to find them.

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**Review of face the very furious pink-haird Shiru!**


	8. Blind

**We're finally BACK! Yahoo!!! I've been having some school issues so I apologise for not updating any fics at all in a while.**

**Okay enough ranting; I don't own One Piece, One Piece belongs to Oda-Sensei

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**

**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

_**by**_

_**Shiruji-chan & Clarobell**_

**Chapter 8 – Blind**

Luffy yawned as he slowly woke up from a long nights sleep. He felt a lot better than he had in the past few days and smiled as he tensed his muscles feleing strength back in them. He raised his head as he heard a shuffling a little way away from him only to spot Zoro and Sanji already awake. It seemed Zoro was preparing to go outside. He opened his mouth to say something to him before smelling the cooking food and rushing to Sanji's side like a puppy at feeding time.

"FOOOOOD!" the boy cried, latching onto Sanji before the cook shoved him away.

Zoro grunteed with a scowl on his face and turned to face away form the other two.

**_Suddenly the shitty cook's here and I don't matter any more _**he thought bitterly before shaking his head and starting to walk out of the cave

"See you later, crappy-cook" he muttered on his way out, not bothering to say goodbye to Luffy

Luffy looked up from the food as Zoro left and his eyebrows knit together as the bad feeling came back. It's the feeling he got whenever Zoro got mad at him or did mean things, which though rare, affected him a lot more than anything else. Sanji glanced from the cave entrace to Luffy before smirkng and prodding the meat a little. Luffy's attention was brought back to the food by ths and immediately attempted to steal some.

"YAY! MEAT!" he cried, stretching his fingers

"You're so blind sometimes Luffy" the blonde cook muttered, smacking Luffy's hand with the stick as it crept too close

"Blind?" Luffy questioned, cocking his head ot the side, pouting as he got no meat "But my eyes work just fine!"

Sanji sighed at his captain's stupidity and decided to take a different route. Luffy was too dense for being _too _subtle. It was obvious how Zoro and Luffy felt about each other - at least it was to anybody who _wasn't _Zoro and Luffy, and though Sanji would gladly leave Zoro to squirm in finding out his feelings, Luffy didn't really deserve that.

"You know I didn't think anybody could hurt Zoro" Sanji mumbled "You just proved me wrong"

"I hurt Zoro?!" Luffy asked aas his jaw dropped "How?"

"Luffy" Sanji groaned "Are you really _that _stupid?"

"What do you mean?" Luffy blinked, obviously having no idea what Sanji was talking about

"You mean to tell me you have no idea _at all _what's going on?" Sanji asked incredulously, then again, this was Luffy

The boy stared back at him blankly and Sanji sighed. He'd have to take this the long way round.

"Ok Luffy" he started "Tell me, how do you feel around moss-head?"

"Um ... happy?"

"No, I mean lately, have you felt any different?"

"Well" Luffy stated, huffing in though "I feel weird; it's a mystery feeling!"

"A mystery feeling eh?" Sanji smirked "What's it like?"

"Like ... I feel both happy and sad at the same time" Luffy frowned "And then I get this tingly feeling"

"And when do you get this feeling?" Sanji asked slowly, as if talking to a small child "It isn't _all _the time around him is it? Does it come when certain things happen?"

He really couldn't give any more than that away. If Luffy didn't get what he was implying then, there was no hope for him.

"Well, I got really sad when we had this fight..." Luffy mumbled "And I'm happy when he's around ... but the tingly feeling only comes when he touches me or when he says funny or nice things"

"Oh really?" Sanji grinned "And does Zoro act strange around you sometimes?" When you do things or get close to him?"

"Well, kind of" Luffy replied seemingly deep in thought "He looked kind of nervous when I sat in his lap so..."

"So?" Sanji prompted. They may actually be getting somewhere

"And he gets really red in the face if I get too close – does that mean I make him sick? Zoro said I was red when I was sick!"

"No Luffy" Sanji grumbled "What else happens?"

"Oh, uh, well he went all funny when I licked his hand yesterday" the boy mumbled brow furrowing "And he's been worrying too much"

"Luffy" Sanji sighed "You're an idiot"

"What?" Luffy cried "Why?"

"I didn't think I'd ever say this, but Zoro's..." Sanji stopped preparing for how Luffy would react "...in love"

"Zoro ... in love?" Luffy asked, unonsciously bringing a hand to his chest as the mystery feeling returned "But ... with who? Is it Robin? Or Nami?"

"You know Luffy" Sanji stated with a knowing smile "Guys don't _always_ fall in love with girls"

"Really?" Luffy blinked

"Yes, really"

"But ... who then?" Luffy asked before narrowing his eyes in Sanji direction and pinning him with a suspicious look

"Don't even think about it you rubber brained freak!" the cook snapped

"WHAT?" Luffy cried "But you two always fight and ... you're always together!"

"We fight because we **hate **each other" Sanji fumed "And we are _not _always together!"

"But, Nami said two poeple fight because they..."

"NAMI-SWAAAAAN!" Sanji cried before collecting himslef "That's not the case with me and Zoro"

"Really?"

"Look Luffy" Sani sighed "You've got to figure this one out on your own okay? Think about it, Zoro is in love with _somebody_. Who does Zoro hang out with? Only the poeple on the ship right?"

"Yeah okay" Luffy smiled before frowning in concentration "Chopper ... that would be weird ... Usopp ... that would be weird too..."

Sanji laughed and Luffy whined.

"I don't get it!"

"Well who else is on Merry?" Sanji growled, losing his patience

"Well, Nami, but Zoro fights with her, and Robin, hm, he acts kind of weird around Robin really..."

"Didn't I say it wasn't one of the girls?" the blonde asked irratably

"But how do you know that?" Luffy asked

"_Luffy_" Sanji groaned

Zoro trudged through the snow, mildly exercising his legs which had been quite numb since he'd almost been half frozen. His mind wandered to his captain and he shook his head trying to get rid of the thoughts. His smile, his laugh, his playful touches. God! What was wrong with him? Luffy was his _captain _for heavens sake!

As long as Zoro could remember he'd been in control of his emotions, ever since ... Kuina. He kept his distance and left people at arms length, close enough to aquaint with, but nobody close enough to get hurt. Almost. His thoughts once agian drifted to Luffy and he groaned as the realisation dawned on him that he had pretty much let the boy worm his way through all of his defenses. Lately he'd found himself high strung around the boy constantly watching his back to make sure he was ok. Luffy was the best friend he'd ever had and the thought of losing him was unbearable. Lately his emotions had also been taking another turn, one he was scared to admit was happening. But it seemed there was no stopping it and his affection for his captain grew by the day. It made him wonder if Luffy knew how he felt.

Of course he didn't; he was Luffy. His mind was too filled with dreams and adventure to ever have room for Zoro, but the again, love didn't come from the mind did it? Maybe Luffy did like him _that _way, but just didn't know – not that Zoro liked Luffy _that _way, it was just ... aw hell, who was he fooling? The boy was his universe and had been since the day he met him. Maybe he'd talk to him about it ... next time Sanji left for food, water of firewood. He'd be damned if he was going to talk to Luffy about _that _in front of Sanji.

With that thought in mind and feeling a little bit braver, Zoro made his way back to the cave, getting lost a few times on the way.

"Okay Luffy" Sanji ground out "So if it's not me, not Usopp, not Chopper or Nami-san or Robin-chan ... who's left?"

Luffy raised his hand to his chin thought before slamming it down into his other palm.

"I got it!" he cried as Sanji grinned hopefully "Hat!"

"ARGH!" Sanji cried as he stood up and started to pace the room "I GIVE UP! If you haven't figured it out by now then you're hopeless! You'll never figure out Zoro loves you and you probably don't even realise you love him back!"

With that said, Sanji stormed from the cave, unfortunately, he didn't even have a smoke to ease his tention. Luffy continued to sit there in silence, his eyes wide and his mouth slack.

"M-Me?" he muttered before screaming "**ME?!**"

"You what?" Zoro asked as he walked back into the cave

Luffy silenced as red stained his cheeks.

**_Can't be me... _**he though

Zoro kneeled in front of the boy and pressed the back of his hand to Luffy's forehead.

"You okay captain?" he aksed "You look feverish"

"...I'm not sick" Luffy mutterd as his blush darkened, spreading across his face

"Then why are you so red?" the swordsman asked, looking into Luffy's eyes

"I'm ... I'm not red!" Luffy protested, quickly turning his head away

He couldn't understand why he was actingt this way around Zoro. Zoro was his best friend, his swordsman, his first mate ... so why did he feel so embarrassed all of a sudden?"

"What's wrong Luffy?" Zoro asked, worry creeping into his voice at his captains odd behaviour "You're acting weird"

"I'm not acting weird!" Lufy pouted, crossing his arms "Stupid Zoro!"

"What did I do now?" Zoro asked

"Zoro..." Luffy whispered "Sanji said that..."

"Shitty cook!" Zoro snapped suddenly, interrupting Luffy "I should have known he had something to do with this!"

"But Zoro-"

"Don't believe anything he says Luffy!" Zoro shouted "None of its true!"

"It's not true?" he asked sadly, though Zoro was too mad to notice

The swordsman proceeded to storm around the room muttering curses about Sanji before stomping outside as Luffy sat in silence on the floor. He was so confused. Sanji saiid Zoro loved him, but Zoro said Sanji was lying. The bad mystery feeling was back; not the nice tingly, warm mystery feeling, the cold and empty one that hurt his chest. Shouting could be heard outside as it grew closer and closer to the cave and within seconds, Sanji re-entered followed closely by Zoro.

"It's none of your damn business Marimo!"

"Just tell me what the fuck you told him!" Zoro demanded "Whatever it is, it doesn't matter now, I told him not to believe you and that it's not true!"

Sanji's eyes widened as he looked down at his captain who was still sat silently on the floor. His eyes were focused on the ground and the cook couldn't see how he was reacting to this.

"Don't listen to him Luffy!" he cried suddenly "He doesn't know what he's talking about!"

"Like hell I don't!"

Luffy looked from one to the other desperately - who should he believe? Zoro never lied to him ... but he _really wanted _to believe Sanji. He wanted to believe that Zoro loved him like Sanji said he did.

"The shitty cook doesn't know what he's talking about Luffy!" Zoro shouted "Whatever he said, its not true – do I ever lie to you?"

"Shut it Marimo or you're gonna-"

Before Sanji had a chance to finish his sentence Luffy bolted from the cave, eyes stinging as he held back the tears.

"FUCK IT!" Sanji screamed, kicking the wall "Now look what you've done!"

"W-What?" Zoro stuttered, shocked at what had just happened "I didnt-"

"I _told _him that you _loved _him you **FUCKING MORON!!**"

"Why would you-"

"I may not like _you _Marimo, but that doesn't mean I can't help _him_"

"But why would you tell him I love him?" Zoro asked – was it really that obvious?

"Because it's _true_!" Sanji practically sreamed "It seems everyone can see you two are in love except for you two! Now go out there and fucking **apologise!**"

Zoro moved out of the cave and scanned the area, sighing in relief as he spotted Luffy by the stream they gathered the water from. At least he hadn't gone and run off. The boy was rubbing his face with water making Zoro assume he'd been crying and was attempting to get rid of the evidence. It made the swodsmans heart ache; he'd really dug himself deep this time.

"...Luffy?"

Luffy's body tensed, but he didn't make a move otherwise. Zoro took that as a good sign; at least he didn't run away.

"What?" the rubber boy snapped suddenly in a tone that made his first mate flinch

"Luffy ... don't do this" Zoro muttered "I didn't know ... I ... shit I'm not good at this..."

Luffy looked up at him with wide eyes and Zoro gulped. He was getting a feeling he was familiar with and did _not _like. It was the same feeling he got when facing up against Tashigi, the feeling that told him to run. He was panicking and he knew it.

"I just ... I can't ..." Zoro stuttered pathetically "I mean ... SHIT!"

And with that the swordsman turned on his heel and ran. Luffy's eyes widened and with a cry of the swordsmans name ran after him. No _way _was he letting him get away after that. He was about to say something _really _important Luffy just _knew _it – he had to catch him! Sanji walked out of the cave just in time to see Zoro run and Luffy give chase and swore under his breath.

"Shit" he muttered "If I know them they'll end up getting lost!"

The cook joined the chase, keeping a little distance so that when they did stop they could talk in private. By now Zoro was once again making his way up the mountainside. He wasn't even watching where he was going. The thoughts of Luffy were spiralling out of control in his head now – what had he almost said back there? _Did _he love Luffy? Did he _really_? It was all so confusing!

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't notice that he had reached the top of the moutain, neither the gargantuan claws heading his way until they crashed into his skin, sending him flying off the edge of the moutaintop. Luffy watched in horror as Zoro was sent hurtling downwards – in his current state that fall could kill him! With a cry of the swordsmans name he shot his arm out, barely grasping his ankle before reeling it in.

Luffy flinched as the weakness in his arms returned and the slight jolt sent Zoro crashing into the mountainside and from thee now dead weight on his arm, he presumed the swordsman had been knocked unconscious. He was so preoccupied with reeling Zoro in and keeping his focus as his head span dizzily, Luffy failed ot notice that the creature had now set it sights on him. With claws extended and drool dripping form its mouth it charged, but just as it was about to make contact, Sanji arrived.

"Look out Luffy!" he cried, kicking the beast away just before it reached the boy

By now Luffy had pulled Zoro up and was inspecting a large gash on the back of the older man's head gingerly.

"Thanks Sanji" Luffy muttered, taking a deep breath to try and clear his spinning head

"No problem captain" Sanji replied, keeping his eyes trained on the beast as it got up again "Take it easy and watch the idiot Marimo, I'll take care of this"

Luffy nodded, looking the creature up and down. It was a _lot _bigger than before – Zoro had probably killed its baby from the looks of it. It was at least 4 times the size of the last one, but with Sanji at full strength, it should be no problem.

As if on queue, a few kicks later the creature was sent flying into the mountainside, heavy rocks crumbling on top of it as it fell. Luffy cheered before turning back to Zoro as he groaned painfully. Sanji turned back to them and began walking in their direction, but just as he turned his back on the beast, it lashed out again, sending him crashing into the mountainside. Luffy gasped as it turned its sights on him and bolted forwards. He was about to get hit when strong arms barged him aside and Luffy watched with horror as the creature hit Zoro instead and both of them fell ... this time, he couldn't catch him.

"ZOROOOO!" Sanji cried, shaking his head as he ran to the edge

Luffy was speechless. He just coudn't believe t. Zoro was gone.

And then his world faded to black.

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**Review or I'll turn you into a moldy pumkin!**


	9. Not Too Late

**; heeeh... Sorry for the delay folx. But here's the 9th chapter. Still RP betwen me and Clarobell. Well, hope you will enjoy this chapter because it's a _little_ angsty. You know we like to torture them ne:3**

**Disclaimer: We do not own One Piece or any of it's characters. They belong to Eiichiro Oda-sensei**

**

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**

**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

_**by**_

_**Shiruji-chan & Clarobell**_

**Chapter 9 – Not Too Late**

Sanji breathed heavily as he looked down at his unconscious captain. It was unbelievable, just this morning they'd been fine and now ... now everything was shit. Luffy was unconscious at his feet and Zoro was...

With a sigh he looked over the edge. From where they were they couldn't see what was below. Though it was a small island, the mountain on it was tall and reached up to a layer of cloud and though Sanji couldn't _see _what was below, he knew what was there. He'd circled the island numerous times looking for first shelter and then once he'd seen the signal, his crewmates. Falling off the edge at this side of the mountain would have sent Zoro straight into the arctic waters and in his current state, Sanji doubted whether he would be able to get himself out again.

Shaking away his dark thoughts he crouched down and scooped Luffy into his arms. The boy was breathing hard and burning up.

**_Shit _**thought Sanji **_I can't leave Luffy here, but, Zoro..._**

Luffy stirred a little in his arms and the chef shifted a little trying to make him more comfortable.

"Relax Luffy" he murmered, gulping slightly to hold back the cracking in his voice "It's okay"

Luffy's eyes suddenly snapped open and the boy struggled free from Sanji's grasp, swaying as his feet touched the icy ground.

"ZORO!" he cried, moving dangerously close to the edge of the moutain to peer down

"Whoa! Luffy!" Sanji called, trying to pull the boy back "Luffy clam down!"

"I've got to find him!" Luffy insisted, pulling against Sanji as his breathing became more frantic in his panicked state.

"He's gone Luffy!" Sanji called again, pulling him back "You can't get to him now! You have to get back to the cave! You're burning up!"

"NO!" Luffy demanded "I'm gonna find him! It's not too late!"

Sanji ground his teeth together and pushed his leg forward snapping it against the back of Lufy's head and knocking the boy out. He caught him as he fell .

"Sorry Captain" he muttered "But Zoro wouldn't want you to go after him like this"

Slowly he turned his gaze back to the mountain edge.

_**Now look what you've done Marimo...**_

Hours passed before slowly Luffy started to wake up. His arms rose to his aching head.

"...Luffy?" Sanji called uncertainly, not sure of how his captain would react.

At his cook's voice all memories came back into place and Luffy's eyes snapped open as he sat bolt upright and glared at the chef.

"What?!"

"Luffy please..." Sanji pleaded, losing his usual confident and arrogant tone at the look on the boy's face "...try to understand, I know how you're feeling-"

Sanji was cut off as Luffy punched him round the face and stormed out of the shelter. Sanji scrambled to his feet and ran after the boy, grabbing his arm. Luffy stopped but refused to look at him.

"Luffy wait – you can't go out!" the cook stated "Your fever's worse than ever, you need to rest! I'll go!"

Luffy glared back at Sanji before wrenching his arm free and giving the cook his serious look.

"Zoro's going to be the best swordsman in the world, and as the future pirate king, I can _not _leave any of my nakama behind before they fulfil their dreams!" the boy shouted beginning to walk away again before Sanji once again grabbed his arm. Luffy stared at him hard.

"He's my Nakama too Luffy" Sanji muttered "We'll look for him together"

Luffy hesitated for a while before answering with a nod and Sanji let go of his arm.

"Alright" he sighed "But we'll have to look in different places – the quicker we find him the better!"

"Fine" Sanji agreed reluctantly, not liking the idea of letting Luffy go alone "But we meet back at the cave by night fall, Zoro or not, alright?"

"Alright" Luffy agreed crossing his fingers behind his back. He wasn't coming back without Zoro, no way.

Luffy turned away from Sanji and began to walk around the base of the mountain in search of his missing first mate. A feeling the boy didn't like tugged at his heart and he thought back to the amount of times he'd been feeling it recently. He couldn't understand why though. He'd never felt this way before, not that he could rememebr anyway, the closest feeling he could compare it with was the feeling he had when Shanks lost his arm and so thinking about it, he had to class it as being sad and hurt. But why was he hurting? He could understand why he would be now, with Zoro missing and all, but he'd been getting the feeling for a while now. It usually happened whenever Zoro ignored him, or said something mean to him – but why would he feel hurt from that? Lots of people ignored him and said mean things to him and it didn't faze him one bit. Luffy sighed as his head began to hurt from all of the thinking and he raised a hand to rest against it, pulling it back as he felt the searing heat from his temples. He gave his hand an annoyed look – why couldn't the rest of him be that warm?

The boy continued to trudge through the snow, shaking his head slightly as the dizziness returned. Now was not the time to be dizzy. Zoro needed him and he wasn't bout to go and pass out on his swordsman when he was needed. His eyes darted to the left as a splash of green invaded his peripheral vision and he gasped as he spotted the very person he'd been looking for. Dashing to the shore lines (stumbling once or twice as the dizziness grew from the effort of the run) Luffy grimaced as he took in his first mates appearence. He did _not _look good.

The swordsman was beached on a small patch of land sticking out of the ocean; obviously it had been part of the original island at one time, but the currents had eroded the visible connection away leaving only the rocky structure under the sea keeping the land together. From where Luffy was he could not get to Zoro without physically getting in the water. The sea water would come up to his chest if he tried, but being sea water he would not make it to the land before collapsing and more than likely drowning in the shallow waters.

"Zoro!" Luffy called desperately, hoping the man would awaken at his call, but it was no use.

Zoro was unconscious, lying half submerged in the icy waters. His skin was a pale white and his breathing laboured as he seemingly used the last of his strength to pull himself to shore. Luffy found himself with no other choice than to use his rubber powers. He'd found in the last few days that it had been getting harder with the sickness and lack of food and tended to make him very dizzy, but if Zoro needed him, then damn it he'd do it.

Stretching his arms forward and looping them around Zoro's waist and arms, Luffy slowly reeled his first mate in. It seemed he had found him just in time and the waters were getting choppier and had been tugging at the swordsman, slowly pulling him back into the freezing waters bit by bit. As the boy lay Zoro on the gorund, he knelt at the side of him and breathed deeply, feeling the urge to throw up but quelling it. His attention was drawn back to Zoro as the man groaned in pain and started to shiver harshly, his ragged breaths coming in gasps as the snow once again started to fall.

Luffy frowned, not knowing how he could help his swordsman. He looked down at what was left of his clothes and rememebred how Zoro had kept him warm with his own clothes after he'd been buried under the snow days earlier. He removed his shirt knowing it wouldn't do much, but hoping that maybe it could help just a little. He would have given Zoro his jean shorts too, but he knew the man would never fit into them.

With a grunt he hefted Zoro into a piggy back and started the long trek back to the cave. He had no idea where he was, but he hoped if he kept walking he'd find the cave or Sanji eventually. Zoro shivered harder against his captain and was shaking so hard he was actually making Luffy shake too. He coughed weakly jolting the boy a little and Luffy stumbled, trying to keep his balance as a dizzy spell hit.

"Zoro?" Luffy asked uncertainly as the shivering started to die down. He glanced back at his first mate and growned as he saw the man's skin turning practically blue. He hated to see Zoro so weak when he was usually so strong, but he hated it more when it was because of him. With a sigh he continued to move forward, the sooner they got back the better.

After around half an hour of walking with Zoro on his back, Luffy heard the man moan and his breathing change as he started to wake up. Turnng his head slightly he saw the swordsman's eyes flutter open, what he didn't like was the way they were misty and unfocused. The snow was falling harder now and Luffy blinked quickly, trying to find his way through the white puffs in front of his face. He nearly jumped as Zoro weak voice sounded next to his ear.

"Gotta ... beat her ... gotta ... get ... stronger..."

Luffy paused at Zoro's words, trying to understand what he was talking about.

"Zoro" he asked "What are you-"

"Can't lose..." Zoro interrupted weakly "...again"

"Lose?" Luffy asked beore his eyes widened inrealisation – Zoro was ether delusional or dreaming, he smileed sadly "Don't worry, it's gonna be okay Zoro"

The green-haired man blinked slowly, not taking in the words as he stared straight ahead, not really seeing anything.

"Promised her ... promised him..." he muttred as his head fell onto Luffy's shoulder "...Luffy..."

The rubber boy's heart jolted as Zoro mentioned his name but he ignored it.

"Hold on for me okay Zoro?" Luffy stated "I'm going to get us out of here"

As the boy moved to quicken his pace, his foot landed on ice and slipped from under him, sending hm crasing face-first into the snow with Zoro on top of him. Zoro blinked once and then twice, shaking his head slightly. It seemed the jolt from the fall had knocked some sense back into him. He realised he was lying on top of Luffy and weakly rolled off, lying in the snow beside him. Luffy lifted his head and gasped as his mouth and nose were filled with snow.

"Lu...ffy?" Zoro called

Luffy grinned seeing that Zoro was coherent again and moved closer to him.

"Zoro!" he chirped happily, but Zoro didnt return the enthusiasm

"L-Luffy" he continued, shaking his head as he felt his consciousnness waning "I'm sorry..."

Luffy paused at Zoro words before grinning down at the man.

"Don't talk Zoro" he ordered "I'm going to get us out of here"

He grabbed Zoro again and positioned him on his back before continuing onwards, a determined look on his face.

"I n-never ... meant to ... h-hurt you..."

Again Luffy paused at his first mate's words before continuing, turning to grin at the man.

"Luffy's fine!" he reassured "Now let's go!"

Feeling a little desperate now at Zoro's last words, Luffy started to speed up, walking faster, then faster, then running. Zoro breathed shakily.

"...you ... should b-be ... r-resting"

"I don't feel like it" the rubber boy giggled, trying not to let slip how worried he was for Zoro "Besides, you're worse than I am"

Zoro seemed as though he was preparing to pass a defiant remark about that before his body fell lax against Luffy as he lost his battle for consciousness. Luffy frowned as tears stung at his eyes for reasons he didn't know.

"Didn't I tell Zoro not to worry so much?" he muttered as he walked back into the cave without even noticing. He blinked in surprise as he instantly started to warm and lay Zoro down, breathing heavily, but ignoring it. He had to take care of Zoro. Zoro _needed _him. He grabbed some sticks form the fire wood and rubbed them together like he had seen Zoro and Sanji do. As his clumsy struggles continued, Zoro woke up again.

"...Lu..." he rasped as his voice cut out and he coughed

"Heh, I never really liked this fire making thingy" he muttered as he crawled towards Zoro and frowned at the swordsman's state "If Ace were here he could get it going..."

Zoro didn't reply, seemingly competely dazed. Luffy leaned over him and shuddered a little as it seemed as if Zoro was looking straight through him. He didn't like the look one bit. It was like it wasnt Zoro, the fire, the passion, the determination to be the best, nothing that was usually in his eyes was there. Eventually the rubber boy turned his head away to avoid the blank stare.

For a while the only noise in the cave was the echo of the harsh breathing coming form both of its occupants, but before long Sanji returned breathing heavily and his eyes widened as he saw Zoro. He ran to the two and looked over the dazed swordsman.

"Shit, he's in bad shape" Sanji muttered as he turned to face Luffy "Luffy, go lie down okay? Put some snow to your head to cool off the fever and relax – I've got to take care of Zoro and I can't worry about you right now ... what's wrong?"

It seemed the cook had only just noticed Luffy's discomfort with Zoro. Luffy shook his head, turning to face the blonde.

"Noting ... but I'm not going to lie down" he protested "I'm not sick and I don't have a fever"

"Damn it Luffy!"

That was all the warning the boy got before Sanji pounced on him and pinned him to the ground before stuffing snow across his face and through his hair. Sanji then took off his jacket and shirt dropping his jacket on the side and wrapping his shirt around Luffy's naked torso. He then turned away from his captain and proceeded to strip Zoro out of his soaked shirt and what remained of Luffy's before wrapping the swordsman in his own jacket. He was interruted as a blue shirt was thrusted under his nose. Sanji sighed angrily as he turned to face Luffy who was holding the chefs shirt out for the cook to take back.

"I don't need it" Luffy stated "I'm not cold, and I don't want you to get sick"

Luffy made a move to walk away but the blonde grabbed him by the back of his shorts and yanked him back down to the cave's ground before forcing him back into the shirt and pushing him up against the wall. He held the greatest respect for Luffy as his captain, but sometimes, he couldn't let it get in the way of what he had to do.

"Stop it Luffy! Just stop playing the hero!" Sanji shouted "Unlike you two morons, I'm actually fine! Stop acting like you're not sick because it's only bringing my attention away from Zoro!"

Luffy silenced at the mention of his first mate and Sanji let go seeing that his words had finally got through to Luffy. Luffy looked down at the ground and sighed before nodding. Knowing that he didn't have to worry about Luffy now, Sanji turned his attention back to Zoro.

"How do you two get into these messes?" Sanji asked, trying to fill the silence "By rights Zoro shouldn't even be alive!"

"ZORO IS **NOT **GOING TO DIE!" Luffy shouted, making Sanji jump at the sudden outburst "Zoro is different and he still has to be the best swordsman in the world!!!"

"Hey, hey!" Sanji replied "Calm down captain, I was saying that! It doen't mean anything – really!"

"Zoro won't die..."

Sanji sighed seing that his captain was now wide awake again.

"Hey" he called "If you're not going to rest how about you help me take care of Zoro okay? Just don't go back outside, blizzards setting in"

Luffy took a deep breath to calm himself down before nodding and shifting to sit beside the cook. He could see the man was shivering slightly and frowned. After a while Zoro was taken care of and looked better. Luffy moved back to sit against the cave wall. Sanji turned to look at him.

"How are you feeling?" the cook asked "Honestly"

"M'kay" Luffy sighed as finally the exhaustion set in and he slumped sideways down the wall like a sack of potatoes.

Sanji sighed and moved to pull the shirt tighter around his captain before lying the smaller boy next to Zoro. He turned to look at their water supply and noticed it was low. Throwing a glance towards the cave entrace he saw that the blizzard was still mild and moved to walk out of the cave to fetch some more.

"What am I going to do with you two shit heads?" he muttered tiredly

By the time morning rolled round, Luffy was feeling a bit better, the night sleep doing him good. He noticed that Zoro was still sleeping and Sanji was asleep by the burnt out fire, shivering. Without a thought he removed Sanji shirt from his body and draped it over the sleeping cook before moving to watch over Zoro.

The boys breathing became deeper and harsher as he felt a headache coming on and he closed his eyes tiredly. A coughing from behind him brough his attention back to Sanji and he frowned at the blonde's prone form. Why'd he have to go and give him his shirt? Now he was going to get sick...

Turning his head back to watch Zoro, he jumped a little as he found the green-haired man staring back at him but smiled as he saw the fire burning in his eyes again. Sanji coughed again in his sleep and Luffy once again turned to look at him.

"Stupid Sanji..." he muttered before turning back to Zoro.

"H-Hi" Zoro choked out through his dry throat.

"Morning!" Luffy smiled back.

Sanji snorted slightly in his sleep before rolling over, the shirt slipping from his body. Zoro noticed the jacket on his body for the first time and stared at Sanji.

"He okay?" he muttered

"Luffy told him to keep his shirt" Luffy pouted "But Sanji wouldn't listen."

"He slept with no shirt on?" Luffy nodded "On his own over there?" Luffy nodded "He didnt even sleep beside us?"

"I don't know" Luffy replied with a frown "I fell asleep"

Suddenly Luffy's stomach rumbled and the boy whined.

"Aww – I hope Sanji doesn't get sick – I'm hungry!"

"So that's all I'm good for?" Sanji asked sleepily as he propped himself up on his elbows, obviously having just woke up "Heh I'm not sick"

The cook then stood up and Zoro's and Luffy's eyes widened as they watched him limp to the food store at the back of the cave.

"SANJI!" Luffy screamed "What have you done to your leg?!"

"Huh?" Sanji replied "It's nothing really, I just slipped on some ice last night and landed badly – it's just a light sprain"

"I miss Chopper" Luffy whined, slumping down again, sulking "He could have healed us"

"Yeah well, we'll just have to-" Sanji started, but stopped as he kicked a small rock with his bad leg and cried out in pain before clamping his hand over his mouth as his two friends stared at him as if to say 'light sprain? Yeah right'

"Sanji!" Luffy yelled "Sit down! Captain's orders! Luffy shall get the food himself!"

Sanji groaned as he bent his leg showing that the injury went beyond his ankle.

"Y-Yeah" he muttered "But can you cook it?"

"Nope!" Luffy grinned "But Luffy shall bring the food to Sanji!"

"Alright" Sanji sighed "You okay over there Marimo?"

Loud snoring echoed throughout the cave.

**_Yeah _**Sanji thought as he rolled his eyes**_ He's just fine..._**

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**_ REVIEW!!!!!!! RAWR!!!! Or I, The tigress will pounce you and claw you to- ...errr, just review please , ne?_**


	10. Love Makes You Do Weird Things

**Neeeheeee. You've waited for a new chapter haven't ya:3 Clare hasn't been online for a week, I think her internet is down again. So, give some supernice review for her to read when she gets back ;D Ne?**

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What Does Your Stomach Tell You?

_**by**_

_**Shiruji-chan & Clarobell**_

**Chapter 10 – Love makes you do weird things**

Three days had passed since Zoro had been brought back to the cave by Luffy and slowly but surely both the captain and first mate had regained their strength, but with torn clothes and little food, they were still sick, and still weak. Sanji, though still limping slightly was pretty much fine and had decided that they would go out in search of food. He doubted there would be any more of those beasts on the island, but it couldn't hurt to look.

Sanji had sent Luffy and Zoro together so that they could watch out for one another as he knew neither would stand for the others 'heroics'.

And so that brought us to the present time. Zoro and Luffy were currently climbing the mountainside leaving Sanji to search the flat ground so that the blonde wouldn't aggrivate his injured leg too much.

Zoro grimaced a little as Luffy leaned precariously over the edge of the mountainside and his stomachs did flipflops as the boy started to wobble, losing his balance for a second before regaining it and turning to grin at him. The swordsman sighed and gave his captain a suffering look.

"Luffy, don't get so close to the edge okay?" Zoro asked quietly "What if more of those things attack?"

Luffy whined as Zoro pulled him back by his shorts and pouted at the swordsman. He had been having fun 'oo'ing and 'ahh'ing at the height of the mountain!

"But Zoro!" he protested "Sanji said there wouldn't be any more of those beasties!"

Zoro blinked at his catain and sighed. Yet again Luffy had mixed up what he had heard until it was what he _wanted _to hear.

"The shitty cook said he didn't _think _there would be any" Zoro frowned "And the day I believe him I'll wear a pink tutu and dance sword ballet!"

Luffy laughed loudly as the image of Zoro in a pink tutu crossed his mind and seemed very amused by Zoro's words.

"Zoro, that woud be really cool!" he stated excitedly

Zoro's eyes widened. He knew Luffy too well, and when Luffy thought something was cool he usually wanted to investigate it. If he didn't want to wind up in a pink tutu doing 'sword ballet', he'd best think of something quick to change the subject.

"I didn't ... I wouldn't! I mean..." Zoro stuttered "Uh ... so how's your new shirt?"

Luffy fingered the shirt a little and frowned as the tips of his fingers brushed across the rubbery substance. Sanji had made him the makeshift shirt the night before by somehow using the fire to meld some of the leaves they'd been using as blankets together. Luffy wriggled his nose a little.

"It's a little itchy..."

"Is it warm?" Zoro asked, shivering a little as he climbed higher up the mountain

"Yeah, it's very warm!" Luffy grinned, but his grin fell as he saw Zoro shivering "...you want to try it?"

"Ha!" Zoro smirked "He made it for you! It wouldn't fit me! You're too scrawny!"

"I'm not scrawny!" Luffy protested, puffing his cheeks out and tugging at the new shirt angrily.

"Hey, stop that!" Zoro ordered "You'll break it!"

"Fine" Luffy pouted as he stopped tugging on his shirt "But I'm not scrawny!"

"...are" Zoro muttered under his breath as they once again began to advance up the mountain.

Luffy didn't bother to protest though as his attention was pulled away by an evil snowflake that had dared to land on hs nose. He poked his tongue out and stretched the rubbery appendage to lick it off before turning to grin at Zoro. The swordsman just stared back before rolling his eyes and grabbing Luffy's hand, pulling him forward.

"Come on" he muttered

Luffy silenced as the funny feeling in his stomach came back and tried to ignore the heat in his face. Zoro noticed his captain's silence and turned back to face the boy.

"Hey Luffy, you okay?" he asked, concern lacing his voice "You're quiet..."

"Oh yeah! Fine!" Luffy grinned as he started to march up the mountain "Let's go!"

"Hey, hey! Slow it down! You're-" Zoro cut off as Luffy glared at him and quickly corrected himself "_We're _still recovering you know!"

"I'm _not _sick" Luffy muttered "I don't get sick ... I'm just a little tired, that's all!"

"Then I'm not sick either" Zoro snorted "The only one sick here is the love-cook"

Before he had a chance to insult said love-cook further, Zoro promptly tripped and fell face first into the snow

"...Zoro?" Luffy called, trying deperately to hold in his giggles

Zoro shot back up blushing and dusted himself off; unfortunately, neither captain nor first mate were as healthy as they claimed to be and the fast movement made Zoro's head spin and he fell back in the snow with a groan. Luffy's laughter abruptly stopped and he rushed to his first mates side, resting a hand on his forehead. Zoro pushed it away and sat back more slowly this time, blinking groggily.

"M'fine" he muttered "Just tired"

Luffy grinned and nodded, sitting down in the snow beside Zoro.

"Then let's rest!" he chirped.

"We can't" Zoro replied as he shook his head and stood up "We've got to keep moving or we'll freeze to death here"

"Aww Zoro!" Luffy whined "I don't want to!"

"Damn it Luffy!" Zoro shouted, his head pounding and spinning a little "Why do you have to be so childish?!"

The swordsman kicked a random rock against the wall in his frustration, but what he hadn't expected was that very rock to rebound and come hurtling back at him. He barely had time to widen his eyes before it smacked him straight in the middle of his forehead. Zoro fell back into the snow groaning and holding his head.

Luffy burst out laughing, but stopped as he realised Zoro wasn't getting up. Cocking his head to the side, Luffy stood up and picked up the rock before tossing it over the side of the mountain and sitting beside Zoro who was still groaning in the snow.

"Zoro's got to relax, nothing's going to happen anyway!" Luffy smiled, but frowned as he got no response "Zoro?"

Luffy waved his hand in front of Zoro's face and the swordsman smacked the hand away before sitting up holding his head.

"Zoro should have stayed at the cave" Luffy muttered as he leaned back a little in the snow.

"Stupid rock..." Zoro groaned as he blinked away the dizziness

"Yeah" Luffy agreed, glad to see Zoro was okay "I threw it over the cliff!"

Zoro almost laughed at the proud look Luffy was showing, puffing out his chest as if he had done some great deed.

"Thanks buddy" he smiled at Luffy before ruffling his hair and standing up "Come on let's get this over and done with"

"Awwww" Luffy whined as he got to his feet "But I don't want to..."

"Or we could just turn back now and _say _we looked..." Zoro continued with a smirk

Luffy grinned, but then frowned again "But then there wouldn't be any meat to eat!"

"So I'll catch some fish for you later" Zoro offered

"Really?" Luffy asked as his smile grew once more and then fell again "But ... Zoro's tired, and then you would get more tired and-"

"Luffy shouldn't worry so much about Zoro" the swordsman smirked as Luffy pouted, his earlier words to Zoro being turned against him

"That's cheating!" the rubber boy protested as his stuck his tongue out and Zoro laughed.

"So I'm a cheater then" Zoro smirked again before pulling Luffy along with him back down the mountain "Come on"

Luffy's knees suddenly buckled and both men landed in the snow with a soft crunch. Luffy grinned sheepishly as Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"It seems the tables have turned captain" Zoro muttered as he knelt in front Luffy so that the boy could climb on his back

Luffy protested a little at first but soon gave in and was giggling away as he got a piggy-back ride from Zoro.

"Its fun being with Zoro!" he grinned

Zoro smiled and continued to walk. By the time they got back to the cave, Luffy was barely awake and Zoro was struggling to carry the boy, his own fatigue settling in. He set Luffy down on the cave floor and the boy grinned up at him. He settled a leaf over his small frame for a blanket and lay down next to him.

"Nap time" Luffy muttered sleepily

"Think I might join you" Zoro agreed with a yawn. He was asleep within seconds. Luffy let out a little yawn and struggled to keep his eyelids open.

"Zoro?" he called softly

Loud snoring was his only reply and Luffy pouted. Another yawn later found the boy snoring beside his first mate.

Hours passed and when Luffy woke, Zoro was already up. He stretched a little before blinking at his swordsman. Zoro finally seemed to notice the boy and turned his way.

"Hey Luffy" he greeted a little distractedly

Earlier that morning whilst Luffy had still been sleeping, Sanji had approached Zoro and spoke to him about him and Luffy. The conversation was still whirring around in his head.

_"Oi" Sanji called as he shuffled over to seemigly asleep swordsman "I know you're wake, so quit pretending, we need to talk"_

_"...'bout what?" Zoro finally replied after a few minutes of silence and realising Sanji would not be leaving him alone._

_"About Luffy"_

_Okay, now he had his attention. Zoro slowly sat and up and turned to face the blonde, shifting closer to the flickering fire for warmth._

_"So what do you want to talk about?" Zoro asked finally "If this is something stupid you're gonna be-"_

_"You love him don't you?" Sanji interrupted, levelling Zoro with an intense look_

_"W-What?!" Zoro spluttered "Shitty cook! I don't-"_

_"Keep you voice down Marimo or you're gong to wake him and he'll hear whatever shit it is that you about to come out with"_

_Zoro clamped his mouth shut and turned his gaze to his snoozing Captain. Reluctantly he lowered his voice and turned back to Sanji._

_"Don't know what you're talking about" he muttered_

_"Yes you do" Sanji replied plainly "And he loves you too you know he just hasn't figured it out yet"_

_"He does? I mean – why would I care?!" Zoro muttered_

_"Stop playing dumb with me Marimo, its as plain as day!" Sanji replied "The only poeple who can't seem to see it are you and him!"_

_"And how can you be so sure huh?"_

_"Just watching you two – I bet if I wasn't here you'd have been fucking each other already!"_

_An interesting shade of red flushed Zoro's cheeks from both the comment and the mental images it brought and the swordsman shook his head to get rid of them. Sanji was smirking at his reaction and Zoro knew he had done exactly what the blonde had wanted him to do. Slowly Sanji got to his feet and started walking towards the door._

_"I'm going fishing" he stated "There's not many fish."_

_"So?"_

_"So I'll be gone for a while and Luffy will be waking up soon" Sanji stated "Try and talk to him while I'm gone – maybe you can get through that thick head of his"_

_Zoro didn't have a chance to reply. Sanji was gone before he could even think up a decent reply to that anyway._

"What'cha doing?"

Luffy's voice woke him from his memories and Zoro shook his head turning to the boy. Suddenly he felt so nervous around him, and he couldn't understand it. He was Luffy for crying out loud! So what if he lo-liked him?

"Nothing" Zoro replied "Sanji's gone out fishing..."

"So he didn't find anything either?" Luffy frowned, cocking his head to the side a little – had Zoro just called Sanji, _Sanji_?

"No" Zoro muttered, prodding at the fire with a twig "I guess not"

"Zoro?" Luffy asked as he crawled over to his first mate "What's wrong?"

Zoro took a deep breath. Where should he start? _Should_ he even start?? He glanced at Luffy, the boy was looking him with those big eyes all full of worry. Damn it. Now or never.

"Luffy ... I..." Zoro stuttered "Uh ... are you hungry?"

Damn it! He wasnt good at these sort of things. Ok. Maybe he could just avoid it.

"YEAH!" Luffy grinned "But, I'm not stupid Zoro"

Double damn. Luffy was on to him. How to turn this around? Aha! Maybe he could make Luffy forget by making him mad ... it was worth a shot.

"You're not?" th swordsman asked, raising an eyebrow "You look stupid to me"

Luffy pinned his 'serious face' on Zoro. The insult had washed straight over his head, not affecting him in the slightest. Well, fuck it.

"Don't look at me like that Luffy" Zoro sighed as he rested his head on his arms suddenly feeling very tired

Luffy's gaze didn't falter and Zoro sighed again, peeking an eye out before sitting back up. He was beaten and he knew it.

"I was just thinking about something okay?"

"Okay!" Luffy smiled and turned his attention to something else, not wanting to pry.

Zoro blinked in shock. Was that it? Surely that couldn't be the end of it! This was Luffy! The endless ball of energy and curiosity!

"That's it?" Zoro asked hesitently, almost feeling disappointed at Luffy's lack of intrusion to what he might have been thinking "No annoying pestering me about what's wrong?"

"No" Luffy blinked back "Why?"

Zoro smiled. Typical old Luffy. He ruffled the boys hair and laughed lightly. Luffy always could make him feel better.

"No reason" he replied

Luffy giggled as Zoro tousled his hair before plopping beside the fire, kicking of his sandals and sticking his feet as close to the fire as possible. Zoro rose an eyebrow as he watched Luffy, only just now noticing how exposed the boys feet must have been the whole time – he must have been freezing! But there was nothing they could do about it other than wrap the boy's feet in the fuzzy leaves, but Zoro doubted Luffy would appreciate that.

Silence filled the air for a short while before finally Zoro decided to give it another go.

"Hey Luffy?" Zoro called "Um ... what did Sanji ... what did he say to you?"

"That you shouldn't eat the meat when it's raw I think" Luffy replied, blinking.

"Not that!" Zoro shouted, whacking Luffy lightly round the head before his tone dropped "I meant ... I mean when he..."Zoro trailed off blushing lightly, though trying to hide it "...spoke to you about me ... and you"

"Oh, I didn't get all that" Luffy replied, frowning in thought "He was talking about the stupid feeling in my stomach and stuff"

"...stupid? Oh" Zoro replied, trying to hide the fact he was now feeling very awkward. If he thought that having feelings for him was stupid then that was that, he wasn't even going to _try _and explain how _he _felt "Yeah, that shithead's pretty stupid huh?"

"Nah" Luffy frowned still thinking on his talk with Sanji "He's just weird"

Zoro sighed. Maybe ... maybe he _could _make Luffy understand. It really wasn't _that _hard to explain things to Luffy, you just had to be to the point and simple. But then again, Zoro wasn't good at explaining feelings at all, so how could he simplify it?

"Luffy ... do you ... I mean ... aww fuck it – just forget it ok? Never mind..."

Luffy stayed silent. His talk with Sanji was replaying again and again in his head and suddenly it clicked what Zoro had been trying to talk to him about. He remembered how Sanji had told him Zoro loved him and how he loved Zoro back. Did he love Zoro? Luffy's frown deepened as he concentrated. Well, he loved _all _of his nakama, but only Zoro made him feel that nice feeling in his stomach ... but then again he also made him feel the bad feeling! Was that love? The boy vaguely recalled a time Sanji spoke to him about life and love and remembered the blonde going on about taking the good with the bad. So did that mean he loved Zoro if there was good and bad?

Luffy's head started to hurt and he sighed, glancing up at Zoro. His eyes trailed over the swordsmans body, looking at his tight top which left little to the imagination and his large muscles. Zoro loooked at him and suddenly Luffy felt very embarrassed and looked away as his cheeks started to heat up, and this time it _wasn't _because of the fever. Why was he so embarrassed now? He'd seen Zoro naked plenty of times, but then again he'd never _really _been looking at Zoro's body those times. Was this love?

Maybe he could talk to Zoro about what Sanji had said and then they could figure out whether they did love each other or not.

"Um ... Zoro?"

"Yeah?" Zoro replied snappily. He was frustrated at Luffy's obliviousness. Luffy ignored the snappy tone and continued.

"Sanji said that..." he started, but stopped as a wave of dizziness hit. Taking deep breaths he waited for it to pass, but Zoro it seemed, wasn't willing to talk about his feelings any longer, and so changed the subject before the boy had a chance to continue.

"I can't believe we got ourselves into this mess" he muttered "And what the hell is taking Nami and the others so long to find us?"

"...that Zoro liked Luffy" Luffy finished, completely ignoring the change in subject

Zoro and Luffy both fell silent as they found interesting spots on the wall to gaze at. Zoro took a deep breath and looked at the floor. It was now or never. He could take the plunge or he could back down and keep his feelings inside. Though Zoro was known for keeping his feelings in check, he was _not_ known as one to back down. And so he took the plunge.

"...and...and what if Zoro does?"

A blush stained both their cheeks crimson though Zoro's was admittedly darker as he grabbed up his stick and resumed poking at the fire. Damn it, he was _not _good at this sort of thing!

Luffy looked up at Zoro and smiled a little sheepishy. He opened his mouth to reply but-

"Is this where you confess your undying love for one another?" Sanji smirked from the entrance of the cave

Luffy squeaked and looked up at the blonde. Zoro's eyes widened impossibly wide as he sat stunned beside Luffy.

"Sh-Shut up shitty-cook!" Zoro spluttered as his cheeks coloured a deeper crimson "We don't ... we wouldn't - would we Luffy?"

"Uh, I don't know" Luffy replied honestly now over his embarrassment of Sanji's intrusion "Should we?"

Zoro smacked his forehead and glared at Sanji.

"How'd you _fishing_ go moron?" he asked "I thought you were going to be _gone a while_!"

"I caught a few" Sanji answered, setting the sfish down in front of a drooling Luffy, who seemed to have completely forgotten the previous conversation "How'd your _talk _go Marimo?"

Once again Zoro fell silent and Sanji smirked. How was he supposed to come up with a comeback for that?! 'Great fuck head! Me and Luffy are getting married next week!' – yeah, he could see how _that_ would turn out!

"I can't believe you two are being so childish about this!" the cook muttered suddenly "Do you both even _realise _how you feel?"

Blank stares.

"Thought not" Sanji continued "Do I really have to do this?"

Blank stares. Sanji sighed.

"Luffy, do you love Zoro?"

"Of course! I love Sanji too!" Luffy replied with a grin

"Hm, maybe I should start with moss head" Sanji stated, turning back to where Zoro had been sat only to find him gone "OI!"

"Sanji?" Luffy asked cocking his head to side "Where did Zoro go?"

Sanji ignored the question and instead turned to Luffy with a purpose. To get him and Zoro together. Now normally Sanji wouldn't do anything like playing matchmaker, but the chef really couldn't stand the way the two were acting any long; what made matters worse was that everybody aside from themselves knew how they felt about each other. They were giving off dead giveaways that neither seemed able to see. Secret glances at each other in the galley at dinner which everybody but the recipiant of said glances noticed, Luffy crawling into Zoro's hammock when it was cold, Zoro _letting_ Luffy crawl into his hammock.

Fucking _hell_ it was pissing him off! If he had to watch as they pined after each other for one more day he was going to go crazy. He had hoped leaving them alone would let them take care of things, but as he had been fishing the thought had occurred to him that they had _been _alone on this damn island for _days _now and _nothing_ had happened. That was the original reason he had returned. When he had heard the words passing between the two he couldn't help teasing them as he entered, but now he was regretting it. This could have all been over if he'd of just stayed out.

"Luffy" Sanji spoke slowly "Do you remember what we spoke about? When I told you how Zoro felt about you?"

"Yeah" Luffy replied with a nod

"How has the feeling been since then?"

"Well it doesn't like me" Luffy pouted, poking his stomach a little "That's for sure"

"What?" Sanji asked, laughing a little; sometimes Luffy came out with the strangest things...

"Like, when Zoro fell down that cliff it hurt really bad and then when me and Zoro were talking it was happy, and now its gone all funny and tingly again!" Luffy whined "Sanji? How do I make the stupid feeling go away?"

"You can't Luffy" the cook replied "The feeling is love, and unless you stop loving Zoro, then it won't go away"

"But how do you know?" Luffy asked

"I don't for sure, do you want to test it?"

"How?"

"Who, if you _had _to share some food, would you give it to?"

"Hm – Zoro!"

"Alright, who would you most like to snuggle up with at night?"

Sanji almost snorted at relating the word 'snuggle' with Zoro.

"Zoro"

A sly smile crossed Sanji's face.

"Who do think _looks_ the best in the crew, and not just the women"

Luffy blushed lightly as his memory replayed the view of Zoro's body he'd got this morning and the rubber boy shook his head a little before replying quietly.

"...Zoro"

"How about this one?" Sanji asked, obviously pleased with the answers he'd gotten from Luffy "Who do you like to watch most of the time on the crew?"

"Um ... Zoro"

"And who do you think about most?"

"...Zoro"

"Well I think that proves it" Sanji grinned as he watched Luffy twiddle his thumbs awkwardly before rubbing his stomach, Sanji presumed it was because the 'mystery feeling' was back "Even if you're not in _love _with Zoro you like him very much in a..." Sanji trailed off, not sure whether assiciating the words passionate or romantic could really fit "...in a way that means you like him more than a friend" he finished lamely

"Do I?" Luffy asked quietly, seeming to finally understand what Sanji was telling him "I _think _I do ... but what about Zoro?"

"He loves you back" Sanji replied in a bored tone, "want me to prove it?"

Luffy nodded and Sanji sighed rubbing his temples. God, he wished he had a cigarette.

"Alright, who's the first to dive in after you when you fall overboard?"

"Zoro"

"Who gives you bits of their food when nobody else will?"

"Zoro"

"Who lets you sleep with them when its cold?"

"Zoro"

"Who _always_ trusts you, even when the rest of the crew think you're crazy?"

"...Zoro" Luffy mumbled out. The realisation seemed to be dawning

"So do you get it now Luffy?"

Luffy nodded

"So now that we know you love Marimo, and Marimo loves you, what do we do?" Sanji spoke as if he was talking a five year old child through a simple math problem

Luffy's brow creased in concentration before he pumped his fist in the air and grinned. Sanji sighed, this coud finally all be over.

"We eat!" Luffy stated proudly and the cook's jaw fell open in shock.

"Damn it Luffy!" the blonde growled as he grabbed the boy by his fuzzy shirt "I'm trying to help you here!"

"Oh, sorry!" Luffy grinned, not looking sorry at all before suddenly his grin fell "Sanji! You made my head hurt!"

"Forget your head and focus on what we were talking about!" Sanji snapped

"Where'd Zoro go anyway?" Luffy asked, looking around the cave

"How should I know?" Sanji replied irratably as he dragged Luffy to his feet and started to push him out the cave entrance "Look, just get out there and talk to Zoro about it, because I can't stand all this fucking shit between you two any more – and don't even think about coming back until you've sorted things out!"

Luffy was pushed outside the cave, and shivered a little as his bare feet hit the snow.

"But Sanjiii!" he whined, looking at the diminishing pile of meat and ice "What about food?!"

"So food's more important to you than Zoro?" Sanji asked suddenly trying to use guilt to get the boy to go "No wonder he left – I wouldn't be surprised if he got over his feelings for you with an attitude like that!"

The plan worked as Luffy's eyes widened and he turned and ran into the woods looking for his missing swordsman, calling out his name. Sanji smirked and walked over to the small pile of meat, taking what he needed for the days feeding and skewering it on the makeshift barbeque (being a stick propped up by two others above the fire).

"Good luck captain" he whispered as Luffy disappeared from sight

---

Zoro yawned and scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. He was angry at Luffy for being so oblivious and he was angry at Sanji for ruining the moment when the boy seemed to finally start to understand. His eyes trailed to the woods and widened a little as he heard his name being called. He knew it was Luffy and before long the boy came into view. After Luffy spotted him he ran like mad and Zoro wondered if something was wrong.

"ZORO!" Luffy screamed as he reached Zoro's sight

"Luffy what are you doing here?" Zoro asked "What's wrong?"

The rubber boy panted for a second, a little dizzy from his run before taking a deep breath and explaining

"Well Sanji siad I should tell you I love you or the feelings will go away – the good ones I mean, and he wont let me have fooooood!" Luffy whined desperately

Zoro growled, mistaking Luffy's word and getting the impression that this had all been planned by Sanji as a prank. The way Luffy had explained to Zoro what he had come for had portrayed that the blonde had _told _him to tell Zoro he loved him and that the idea he had, had all been a set up, a trick.

"Why does that shit-head always have to mess with me?!" Zoro hissed angrily "He told you to say that all along! I should have known ... I'm such a fucking idiot!"

Zoro turned away from Luffy scowling. Luffy couldn't understand what he'd said wrong? What was Zoro on about? What was so wrong with Sanji telling him to tell Zoro he loved him?

"But Zoro-"

"Just shut up Luffy!" Zoro shouted "You don't know what you're taking about!"

"But Sanji said-"

"I know what he said damn it!" the swordsman growled "I'm going to slice that bastards legs off!"

Zoro began to storm back to the cave, muttering curses directed at Sanji and Luffy's eyes widened. Zoro was serious! He was really going to go and hurt Sanji! But what had Sanji done that was so wrong? The bad feeling was back again and absently Luffy moved a hand over his stomach. He couldn't let Zoro hurt Sanji! Sanji didn't do anything wrong!

"ZORO!" the boy cried, running after im "WAIT!"

"Just shut up Luffy!" Zoro snapped "He's got this coming! I can't believe he'd play with me like this!"

Normally Zoro would never talk to Luffy the way he was, but from the way Luffy had explained himself he honestly believed the boys 'feelings' for him had all been an act Sanji had confused him into playing. That only increased his anger and embarrassment over the fact that he had practically admitted his own feelings to the boy!

"Zoro! Stop!" Luffy shouted, slightly out of breath "Captain's orders!"

Zoro stopped in his tracks as his body shook with pent up anger.

"That's not fair Luffy!" he hissed

Luffy marched up to Zoro, a determined look on his face. He _had _to make Zoro understand.

"The truth is Zoro ... that Sanji ... Sanji knows me too well" the boy frowned

"What do you mean?" Zoro sighed, looking away and forcing himself to calm down

Luffy blushed a little and also looked away. This was harder than he had thought it would be. He took a deep breath and turned back to Zoro with a grin on his face. Now or never.

"Luffy likes Zoro!"

"Luffy ... you don't know what you're talking about" Zoro sighed, thnking this was just another thing Sanji had tricked the boy into saying "Sanji's just used you to get to me"

Luffy's mouth fell open in shock. Zoro hadn't believed him – Zoro _always _believed him! Even in the stupidest things he _always _trusted him. So how could he not believe him now? Of all times why now? Anger slowly replaced the shock and Luffy growled, turning to walk back to the signal they had made (where he had met Zoro).

"STUPID ZORO!" he shouted at he stormed away

Zoro's eyes widened. It was rare for Luffy to get angry and even rarer for him to be angry at Zoro. The last time he recalled Luffy being honestly angry with him was back in Whisky Peak when he thought the swordsman had attacked all of the poeple there.

"Luffy?" he called following "What are you so mad about? What's wrong?"

"Zoro should stop thinking about Sanji all the time!" Luffy growled as he sat on one of the large rocks, spelling the word 'meat' "Sanji didn't make me say those things"

Zoro stopped beside the boy and they both fell silent for a few seconds before Zoro took a deep breath. Maybe this could be his chance to find out if Luffy really did like him.

"So..." he muttered "Who should Zoro think about?"

"Zoro ... Zoro should think about Luffy..." the boy muttered out, drawing his knees to his chest as his feet grew numb from the cold.

Zoro spotted that Luffy had forgtten to put his shoes back on and tutted, moving to sit next to him and pulling his feet up. The boy squeaked a little and fell so that he was lying on the rock. He giggled as Zoro hit a tickling spot on his foot and started to squirm, but Zoro merely pushed him back to the rock when the boy tried to get away from him.

Luffy sighed as Zoro sat so that the boy's feet were in between his legs and the cold limbs tingled as feeling returned to them. For a normal person, ths position would have been quite uncomfortable, but for Luffy and his rubber limbs it was no problem. When both were comfortable, Zoro continued.

"Why should Zoro think more about Luffy?" the swordsman asked softly, they were treading on eggshells here and he knew it. One wrong move and things could shatter.

"Because..." Luffy muttered, brow creasing as his thought "Because Luffy wants Zoro to understand"

"Then tell me what you want me to know" Zoro continued "I'm listening"

"Luffy ... has weird feelings" the boy whispered, laying his head against Zoro's shoulder.

"What kind of feelings?" Zoro probed slowly, creeping one of his arms across his captain's shoulders and fighting off a blush as Luffy snuggled into him "Are they ... good?"

"Sometimes" Luffy admitted, and then added reluctantly "But they hurt as well"

"When?"

"When ... You fell down the cliff" Luffy admitted, shuddering a little as the memory returned "And when we had that ... fight"

Zoro sighed. He understood where Luffy coming from. He'd felt the same feeling when they'd had the fight too. He was just happy things were ok now.

"...I'm sorry for yelling at you" he apologised "I thought Sanji told you to say those things to tease me"

"No, its okay" Luffy smiled as he leaned his head on Zoro's shoulder "I did something wrong I guess..."

"We're pretty stupid eh?" Zoro mumbled as he tightened his arms around his captain

"Yeah..." Luffy replied as he leaned in a little closer

The rubber boy's eyes trailed up to gaze into Zoro's and the swordsman blushed, suddenly feeling very naked under the stare from those wide eyes. It didn't go unnoticed by Luffy and a light blush crept across his own face. He blinked slowly and reached forwards and Zoro bent down as their lips met in a shy first kiss.

"About time morons!"

And then they just sat there like deers in the headlights as Sanji stood there smirking at them.

* * *

**:3 That was really evil wasn't it? We're sorry.**

**Review or the EVIL evil Sanji will come and kick ya and he doesn't care if you're a woman ...(I wish)**


	11. Round And Round It Goes

**This is the last chapter of What Does You Somach Tell You.  
IT'S SO SAD!!!!! D; D;**

**Me and Clarobell want to thank ALL of you for reading and sharing your thoughts. Thanks you SO much!!! And Also, a big thanks to Plushie for beta-reading! **

**Thank you every One and Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

**What Does Your Stomach Tell You?**

_**by**_

_**Shiruji-chan & Clarobell**_

**Chapter 11 – Round and round it goes**

A day had passed since Luffy and Zoro had kissed and since then, Sanji hadn't missed an opportunity. Zoro would react with anger and insults, but Luffy would merely laugh it off, not really understanding what the chef was teasing him about.

The three were down to their last small portions of meat now and had only enough left for the morning meals. Sanji had just finished cooking and walked over to his captain, potion of meat-on-stick in hand.

"There you go" he spoke, handing Luffy the meat before adding "...loverboy..."

Luffy laughed and happily chomped on his meat.

"Thanks Sanji!" he replied in a muffled voice inhaling the small portion of meat at an alarming rate

Zoro in the meantime, didn't seem quite as unfazed.

"Shut up, shitty cook!" he snapped as a blush crossed over his cheeks. He was having enough trouble with his feelings as it was without Sanji teasing them every 5 seconds. It was strange really. As far as he could tell, they'd said they'd loved each other, kissed ... and then nothing had changed. They were still captain, and first mate, still best friends, and still acting the same with one another.

Sanji merely smirked Zoro's way before handing him his own portion and returning to the fire to retrieve his own meal.

"Aww!" Luffy whined as he realised he'd finished his meat and pouted.

Zoro looked between Luffy and his meat twice before shifting closer to the boy and nudging him to get his attention.

"Hey..." he called softly.

"Huh?" Luffy replied, looking Zoro's way.

Without a word Zoro handed his portion to Luffy and smiled as the boy's eyes lit up in happiness and his bright grin returned to his face.

"Thanks Zoro!" Luffy muttered, hugging the swordsman tightly "You're the best!"

"Aww" Sanji drawled in a sugary voice, smirk firmly in place "How sweet of you Marimo."

"Shut up!" Zoro snapped back, nudging Lufy to try and get him to let go and shaking his head to try and get rid of the blush

He just didn't understand it. Last week if Luffy had tried this then he would have just shrugged it off or pushed the boy away from him, maybe even shouted at him, but now it brought up the strangest feelings in him that made his stomach churn in both good and bad ways and damn it – Sanji wan't making it any easier to deal with!

"Oh no moss-head" the cook continued, his smirk widening "Don't let me ruin your ... _fun_"

Zoro couldn't believe or stop the flood of explicit images that rushed into his mind and he quickly scrabbled away from Luffy and grabbed some stray snow before rubbing over his face to get rid of both the deep blush and traces of blood from the nosebleed. Sanji in the meantime was laughing hysterically and almost choking on his food.

"And you call _me_ a pervert!" the cook muttered between his laughter.

Luffy laughed with Sanji until his stomach rumbled loudly and his smile dropped into a frown.

"Na, Sanji!" he whined "Is this all the food we have left?"

"The last of it..." Sanji replied as he chewed on his last bite of food.

"I'm going for a nap..." Zoro muttered as his stomach rumbled loudly and he moved to lie back against the cave wall.

"Maybe there are more beasties here..." the rubber boy muttered as he looked towards the cave entrance and hummed in thought.

"Luffy, we already searched the whole island remember?" Sanji stated with a sigh "You and Zoro searched the mountains and I searched the lowlands"

"Oh" Luffy replied, thinking for a second before grinning innocently "But we didn't – we got bored so we went back to the cave!"

Zoro flinched as those words escaped his captain's lips and tried his hardest to feign sleep.

"Is that ... so?" Sanji ground out, his eye twitching slightly as he turned to face Zoro.

"Yeah!" Luffy laughed.

Without a word the cook got to his feet and made hs way over to the 'sleeping' swordsman. Suddenly he swung his leg out and Zoro's eyes snapped open and he rolled to the side just in time to avoid the blow and Sanji's leg collided with the side of the cave, making it rumble.

"What the hell cook?" Zoro spat.

Sanji didn't reply and was about to strike again when without warning the cave started to rumble again, louder this time. A huge chunk of rock suddenly fell down from the roof of the cave and slammed into the top of Zoro's head. Now any other time, the swordsman would have clasped his head and cursed loudly, but with all the damage sustained in the past days and the combination of injury and weakness, his defenses had been weakened and as it was his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.

Sanji blinked once and then twice before muttering the single word that would come to his mind.

"...oops..."

He knelt beside Zoro to make sure he was ok before snorting and laughing slightly, trying to smother it after Luffy gave him an icy glare.

"Sorry captain" he sniggered "I didn't know that would happen"

"Mean Sanji!" Luffy stated, crssing his arms and pouting.

"Eh?" came a groan from below them and both eyes turned to Zoro who was starting to wake up.

"Welcome back" Luffy smiled as he leaned over the swordsman.

"Wha' the fuck happened?" Zoro slurred as he shook his head and tried to sit up.

"Sanji tried to kick you and then you rolled over and he hit the cave and a rock landed on your head!" Luffy answered with a grin, proud of himself for relaying such important information.

"Why does this stuff always happen to me?" Zoro growled as he rubbed his head and winced before standing up dizzily and walking towards the cave entrance "Stupid fucking cook..."

"Hey Zoro!" Luffy called "Where are you going?"

"Fishing" the swordsman replied simply "I'm hungry"

"Why is Zoro all wobbly?" the rubber boy asked, turning to Sanji.

"I guess he's dizzy, its to be expected with a blow to the head"

Luffy's eyes widened and he chased after Zoro.

"But Zoro!" he whined "You're dizzy! You'll lose your footing and fall to the snow and get buried alive and I'll never see you again and-"

"Don't be stupid Luffy" Zoro replied "I'm fine"

"No you're not" Luffy mumbled back, blinking at him.

"I..." Zoro tried, but stopped as he caught a glimpse of _the eyes_ and quickly looked away "I'm hungry Luffy – I'm going to get some fish"

"Oi" Sanji muttered, standing up "I'll go..."

"I can go too!" Luffy agreed

"Whatever" Zoro sighed, sitting back down and feeling very grumpy now that his headache was back.

In the mean time, Sanji was trying to think of a way to get Luffy to stay with Zoro. He would fish better without Luffy. The boy was too noisy. He smirked as he thought of the perfect plan.

"You'd leave Zoro here, all alone and cold _and_ injured?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Luffy looked from Zoro to Sanji and then back again before plumping down next to the swordsman.

"I'll stay here" he stated with a nod.

Sanji smirked and walked out of the cave, leaving the two alone. As soon as the chef was out of sight, Zoro slumped back and lay down with a groan.

"Na, Zoro, are you okay?" Luffy asked.

"Ah-huh" Zoro replied with closed eyes "Just ... tired..."

He was snoring within seconds and Luffy sighed boredly.

"Okay" he muttered.

Suddenly Zoro jerked back up and grabbed Luffy by his leaf shirt before pulling him back down beside him and wrapping an arm around the boy and going back to sleep. Luffy snuggled up to Zoro's chest before yawning and deciding to take a nap himself.

---

It was the smell of cooking fish that brough Zoro from his slumber and he blinked his eyes open, blushing as he saw Sanji smirking at he and Luffy in their cuddled positions. He quickly moved away from the boy and sat by the fire, staring at the roasting fish. His head felt a lot better and the headache had dulled.

"This all?" he asked gesturing to the cooking fish that looked more like scraps.

Sanji grunted and nodded, pulling one from the fire and handing it to Zoro. Luffy hummed in his sleep and Zoro smiled at him before turning around and nudging him awake.

"Oi, Luffy" he called "Dinner"

"Oi!" Sanji protested "That's yours! He ate your breakfast!"

Zoro shrugged and waited for Luffy to wake up as Sanji growled at him.

"Wha?" Luffy muttered as he blinked his eyes open before sniffing the air hungrily "Food?"

"Yeah, here" Zoro offered, but to his surprise, Luffy pushed the offered fish aside and stood up, walking the mouth of the cave.

"Food..."

"Luffy?" Sanji called, blinking curiously before grinning "You smell food?"

"FOOOOOOOOOOOOD!" the boy screamed, bursting from the cave and running away like a maniac.

The remaining two grinned before running after him. You could always trust Luffy's stomach after all.

---

"I wish Sanji was here" Usopp sighed as he handed Chopper some fried vegetables

"If he's alive that is..." Nami added pessimistically as she too sighed.

"Of course he is!" Usopp glared back "In fact! They're probably on this island!"

"Really?" Chopper asked hopefully.

"Of course!" Usopp grinned, puffing out his chest.

"Isn't that what you said about the last island?" Nami scowled.

"I ... I was just kidding then! This is the last island in the area ... they've _got_ to be here ... right Chopper?"

"I ... don't know" Chopper whispered back turning his gaze to the ground.

Nami stroked his back in comfort and sighed.

"It's unlikely that they could have survived the freezing temperatures of the water for very long" Robin stated "And if they did make it to land then they would have to find shelter"

"And food" Nami added

Usopp sighed and took a bite of his roasted vegetables.

"Are you sure there's nothing for them to eat around here?" he asked.

"All we found was fish right?" Nami muttered "And they were really tiny too ... and with Luffy's appetite..."

"Well then Luffy will be attracted to the food and find us!" Usopp stated with a fake grin "He'll move even faster if he's really hungry!"

"If captain-san and the others did drift here, they would have been here for quite a while" Robin stated gloomily "And with these frigid temperatures..."

"And Luffy didn't get the jacket" Nami stated "All he has are those shorts and vest..."

_"Fooooooood!"_ a voice cried form the distance.

"Maybe you guys are right" Usopp stated with a sigh as he heard the faint voice "I can still hear him now, yelling for food"

"As a matter of fact, so can I" Robin replied, her eyes widening slightly.

"U-Usopp!" Chopper grinned "I can hear it too!"

---

"He sure can run fast for a guy thats so sick and injured!" Sanji shouted sarcastically as he picked up the pace to try and catch up with his captain

"Nothing stops him when he wants his food!" Zoro shouted back, panting harshly as he struggled to keep up, but he just couldn't seem to catch his breath and the distance between he and Sanji started to grow

"Oi Luffy!" Sanji called "Slow down!"

---

Usopp's eyes widened as his captain dashed around the the side of the moutain and stretched his arms, rocketing forward and throwing hismelf onto the food, completely ignoring his newly found crew. Nami's jaw dropped as she watched the boy and she started to look around for the other two missing members. If Luffy was here, they _had _to be.

"LUFFY!" Chopper cried, latching onto the rubber boy, who was still ignoring him in favour of the food

"Luffy!" Usopp cried happily, tears streaming down his face and then his eyes widened further as he spotted another familiar figure running their way "Sanji!"

Sanji ignored the marksmans call and ran staright to Nami's side only to be clonked over the head.

"It's so good to be scolded by you once again my love!" Sanji cried from his crumpled heap in the snow.

Nami grinned and dived down, hugging the cook who grinned dopily at the attention. Luffy finally finished with the food and finally seemed to notice that his missing crew were around him.

"M-Mina!" he cried

"You're slow!" Nami shouted, but Luffy only laughed at her.

Chopper ran to Luffy's side and clung to his leg. Luffy grinned down at the little doctor and picked him up in his arms.

"What happened to your shirt?" Nami asked, looking at Luffy's makeshift shirt.

"Uh ... its a long story" Sanji laughed.

"Hey Luffy, where's Zoro?" Usopp asked, looking around for their missing friend.

"Huh?" Luffy blinked, also looking around "Sanji, where's Zoro?"

"Shit" Sanji muttered, scanning the area "Can't that moss-head go two damn minutes without getting lost?!"

---

"Where the hell am I?" Zoro muttered from the top of the highest mountain on the island, hugging his arms to his chest as the temperature dropped lower.

---

"Sanji!" Luffy shouted "We have to find Zoro! He's all wobbly and stuff!"

"That idiot!" Nami hissed, her eye twitching as she shook her head

"Wobbly?" Robin questioned with a small smile, ever amused with her captain's terminology.

"Nothing for you to worry about Robin-chwan" Sanji replied "The stupid Marimo's dizzy from getting hit over the head with a rock after being his stupid Mossy self"

"A rock?" Usopp questioned skeptically "Just a rock?"

"Sanji did it!" Luffy whined, pointing at the cook with a frown in place "He tried to kick Zoro because I don't know why and then he hit the cave wall and a _huge_ rock fell on Zoro's head!"

Sanji yelped as Nami whacked him and profusely apologised for his utter stupidity.

"Hey guys, calm down!" Usopp grinned "This is _Zoro_ – he's not going to let a little bump on the head stop him!"

---

"W-Where the hell is this?" Zoro stuttered through his chattering teeth from the opposite end of the island as the rest of the crew before pushing on.

---

"Um, well, he didn't eat either, then he got attacked by this monster, then he fell a _long_ way down and landed in the water and then he didn't eat again" Luffy counted off on his fingers "He was stuck in the water for a while, then we had a fight and he ran off, and then he didn't eat again because he gave all the food to me because we kissed and stuff I think..."

The crew blinked back at Luffy for a few seconds with wide eyes before all shouting.

"YOU _WHAT_?!"

"You ... _kissed_?" Usopp choked out

"They finally realised Nami-swan!" Sanji smirked.

"Yeah" Luffy replied to Usopp "Sanji made us because he said that if I didn't tell Zoro I loved him then he wouldn't give me food or let me back in the cave..."

"You _what?" _Nami hissed, glaring at Sanji

"No my sweet!" Sanji cried in his defense, on his knees and bowing dwn to the navigator "I left them alone to figure things out and _Zoro_ confessed _his_ love for Luffy _first_!"

"Zoro needs a doctor if he's hurt..." Chopper muttered, gaining the crews attention.

"But how will we find him?" Usopp asked, his knees starting to shake as he looked out into the darkness of the island

"Namiiiiii!" Luffy whined "We have to find him!"

"I can't find him if I don't now where he went Lufffffyyyyy!" Nami rpelied, mimicking Luffy's childish tone of voice.

"The idiots probably sleeping" Sanji muttered

"Sleeping outside in these temperatures can kill, cook-san" Robin replied

Sanji bit his tongue to hold back any reply. No way was he admitting he was worried.

"I suppose we'd best look the old fashioned way" Nami sighed starting to walk further into the island "Come on"

"It's snowing" Chopper stated as white tufts started to fall from the sky "It'll make it harder to find him"

"Don't give up Chopper!" Luffy grinned "Well find him!"

"I promise you'll be very impressed with my work when you see them together Nami-san!" Sanji grinned as he ran up to walk beside Nami

"I'm sure I will" Nami smirked back "And its about time too..."

---

The crew searched throughout the night, but finally decided to wait until morning, unable to find anything with the lack of light. Luffy was reluctant to leave, but after being reassured that it would only be a few hours, he joined the crew as they trudged back to Merry.

The missing swordsman was lingering on everybody's mind as they huddled in the galley together to warm up and get something warm to eat and drink. Luffy seemed unusually quiet. They gathered around the table in silence and waited.

Suddenly the door to the galley swung open and Zoro, clad in fresh clothes and looking quite well rested and warm walked in, trudged over to the cooler, pulled out a sandwich and started to much on it before turning to the stunned crew, who's faces were still flushed red from searching in the snow for so long.

"Took you long enough" he muttered before walking out of the room again, calling over his shoulder "I've been waiting here for hours!"

The crew stared at the closed foor for a few seconds before finally Nami cracked.

"I'll kill him!" she screamed, launching out of her chair and having to be restrained by several arms, courtesy of Robin "I'll kill the prick! Let go!"

Luffy burst out laughing and jumped form his seat, running down to the men's cabin to see his swordsman lying on one of the sofa's. He ran over and plopped down next to him, snuggling up to his side and sighing contentedly. Chopper followed shortly after and after chekcing Zoro over and fixing up his injuries, left the two alone.

"Luffy?" Zoro called sleepily

"Hm?" came the equally tired reply

"Don't tell Nami anything about us kissing okay?"

"Okay Zoro" Luffy replied with a smile, competely ignoring the fact that he'd already told Nami a summary of _everything_. The two settled down for a well deserved rest.

---

Around a week had passed since they'd been picked up by the crew and Zoro, Luffy and Sanji were pretty much at 100 again. Zoro watched as Luffy ran around the deck laughing with Usopp and Chopper as usual whilst Sanji doted on Robin and Nami. The only difference was the knowing smirks he would get from the cook, navigator and archaeologist. He'd even get them from Usopp from time to time, and the safe sex talk from Chopper was damn embarrassing!

He turned his head away from Nami as she started to giggle after looking him and turned his gaze to the skies, his eyes narrowing.

"Storm!" Nami shouted suddenly and then they were all on alert once again.

Within seconds the waves were crashing against the hull and rocking the ship dangerously from side to side. The crew scrabbled frantically to secure everything as Luffy laughed loudly. Zoro's eyes widened as huge wave rose from the ocean and crashed towards them. Luffy was right in its path.

Runing forward, he looped his arm around the boy's waist just as the wave hit and sent them spiralling from the ship. Keeping hsi hold tight, the only thing he could really think was, how the hell could this happen twice in one month? He struggled to get to the surface and get his head above the water as well as Luffy's, but once again he found Merry drifting further and further away. The choppy water knocked him under time and time again until finally his world went black.

---

"Zoro..."

_Who?_

"Zorooooo..."

_What?_

"Zoro!"

Zoro shot upwards, his head colliding with Luffy's and both hissed in pain before looking at each other. The swordsman looked around, a smirk tuching his lips as he took in the sun kissed beaches, lush trees offering a cool spot to relax and fruit and small animals galore.

"Now this is more like it!" he grinned "If we have to be lost we might as well be on a _nice_ island!"

Luffy laughed and nodded.

"And together right Zoro?" he asked

Zoro blushed only now noticing that Luffy was straddling his hips and nodding hesitantly.

"R-Right" he stuttered before smirking "Just us ... perfect"

"And Nami too!" Luffy grinned

"Nami?" Zoro asked "Why the hell would I want-"

He cut off as a shadow suddenly blocked his sun and slowly turned around, praying to whatever gods there were it wasn't her.

"Hello Zoro" Nami grinned as he looked at her.

Zoro groaned and let his head fall back on the warm sand. This had to be some kind of sick joke. Luffy laughed again and he cracked an eye open.

"What's so funny?" he asked

"The mystery feeling in my stomach!" Luffy giggled "It tickled when I looked at you!"

"Oh?" Zoro asked with a smirk as he sat up, noting Nami had wandered off, more than likely to sunbathe or inspect the area.

"Yeah" Luffy whispered before adding a little hopefully "Um ... is this where I'm supposed to kiss you again?"

"What does your stomach tell you?" Zoro smirked back.

* * *

**This is my FIRST finnished multi-chapter fic. -cries- It's still so sad!!!! Well, anyway. Why don't you tell uss what you think of the end? ;)**

**Review or the monkey's of Luffyness will jump into your head and search your hair for lice!!**


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